Simulation of the PSM manipulator and tools of the da Vinci robot using “SimRobots”

Abstract

For several years, the “SimRobots” project has been developed as a collaboration between the “SimScape MultiBody” libraries from Simulink and Matlab’s “Robotic Systems Toolbox”. This article presents tools for simulating the PSM (Patient Side Manipulations) manipulators and the snake and caudier tools of the da Vinci surgical robot using “SimRobots”. There are differences between the actual structure of the PSM manipulator and the one that can be modeled using the URDF (Unified Robot Description Format). The URDF format cannot define parallel axes like those in the PSM manipulator. This limitation influences how direct kinematics is defined and how inverse kinematics is calculated. In direct kinematics, several of the PSM’s joints must share the same value. In inverse kinematics, that same restriction prevents the use of conventional algorithms. Both problems have been resolved. An app has been designed to easily move the manipulator-tool’s TCP (Tool Center Point). The developed tools will be used in undergraduate and master’s level classes in the biomedical engineering field.