Advances and key techniques of ophthalmic microsurgical robots

The successful rate of some ophthalmic surgery is extremely low due to the tremor and delicate manipulation limit of surgeons. Robotic technique must be introduced to make the surgery successful. In order to promote the research and development of ophthalmic microsurgical robots in China, the development and application of ophthalmic microsurgical robots, at home and abroad and such key techniques as robot prototype design, micro-force sense and control, biomechanics modeling of ocular tissue, constrained space motion plan and precision motion control, are reviewed after the significance of ophthalmic robot research has been discussed. On the basis of the summary results of corneal grafting robot and key techniques analysis of intraocular microsurgical robot, the trend of future development, research approach and challenges as the integration of end effectors and development of novel surgical instruments are proposed as well. The unsolved problems for clinical application of ophthalmic robot are discussed. The introduction is instructive for surgical robots and some related research in this field.