Endoscopic Laser Surgery: Design, Modeling, and Control

This paper deals with the design, modeling, and control of a compact endoscopic tip for laser steering. It consists of a two-degree-of-freedom microrobotic device based on two linear piezoelectric motors associated with a deformable microfabricated silicon mirror. The proposed device is integrated into an endoscopic tip for microrobot-assisted vocal fold laser microsurgery. The laser motions on the target tissue are controlled using the microrobot device and through a path-following scheme combined with a visual servoing controller. Indeed, the surgeon defines, using a tablet, a path to be followed automatically by the laser at high frequency and under a predefined fixed velocity. The developed device was validated successfully in both realist testbench and preclinical cadaver trials.