Abstract: One and a half decades have passed since the most widely used surgical robot, the  da Vinci from Intuitive Surgical, Inc., came into the market. Owing to its commercial and clinical success, surgical robots are now widely believed to have the “potential to revolutionize clinical practice”. The next stage along this development path, will involve ever increasing emphasis on minimally invasive procedures with tools that are more compact and sophisticated than those currently available. The challenges will therefore involve development of further miniaturized robotic platforms coupled with enhanced functionality. Innovations along these lines have, however, been hampered by the limited knowledge of the mechanics of smart materials and structures, deficiencies in advanced, yet economical, fabrication technologies, and complexities of robotic actuation, sensing (force and shape) and control technologies.

To answer the issues, we propose an innovative smart robotic micro-cannula, targeting extremely thin (1-3mm) surgical robotic devices. The cannula is composed of laser-machined tubes and is further equipped with tip force sensing capability. The proposed approach leverages innovative advances in surgical robotic component design and control strategy, and aims for ultimate integration with various robotic surgeries, in particular, with those requiring miniaturized compliant platforms, such as needle biopsy and neuro-, pediatric procedures.