Robot-assisted technologies are overcoming the limitations of the current approaches for transoral surgeries, which are suffering from limited vision and workspace. As a result, we develop a novel teleoperated parallel continuum robot with variable stiffness for collision avoidance. This paper focuses on the feasibility study on a cadaveric model for the robotic system as a first trial. We introduce the configuration of the robotic system, the description of the processes of the trial, including the setting of the robotic system, the test of stiffness, and the action of the manipulation. The contact force between the manipulators with different stiffness and the surrounding tissues and a series of surgical operations of the manipulator, including grasping, cutting, pushing, and pulling tissues under the master-slave control mode, were recorded and analyzed. Experimental results suggest that the typical surgical procedure on a cadaveric model was successfully performed. Moreover, the efficacy and feasibility of the developed robotic system are verified to satisfy the requirements of transoral robotic surgery (TORS).

Graphical abstract

机器人辅助技术正在克服目前经口手术方法的局限性，这些方法受到视觉和工作空间的限制。因此，我们开发了一种新颖的具有可变刚度的遥操作并行连续体机器人，可避免碰撞。本文将重点放在针对机器人系统的尸体模型的可行性研究作为首次试验。我们介绍了机器人系统的配置，试验过程的描述，包括机器人系统的设置，刚度的测试以及操纵的动作。具有不同刚度的操纵器与周围组织之间的接触力以及操纵器的一系​​列外科手术，包括在主从控制模式下抓持，切割，推动和拉动组织，被记录和分析。实验结果表明，成功完成了尸体模型的典型外科手术。此外，已开发的机器人系统的有效性和可行性得到了验证，可以满足经口机器人手术（TORS）的要求。

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