Development of a Hybrid Cartesian Robot for Knee Joint Surgery

Currently, robots are widely used in orthopedics for surgical operations in the world. The use of robots in orthopedics has increased the accuracy of bone cutting and im-plant placement, which has improved the results of surgical operations. Most robots used in orthopedics have a serial or parallel structural scheme. However, serial robots have low load capacity and rigidity and insufficient accuracy. The disadvantages of the parallel structural scheme of the robot are a smaller workspace and the presence of singular configurations compared to serial ones. To eliminate the above disadvantages of surgical robots for knee joint operations and to create an inexpensive robot, a hybrid Cartesian robot for knee joint surgery has been developed. The hybrid Cartesian robot has the strengths of parallel and serial robots, potentially smoothing out the main dis-advantages of their designs. The forward and reverse kinematics of the proposed robot are analyzed. A 3D model of a hybrid Cartesian robot for knee joint surgery is devel-oped and its prototype is designed in a simplified form based on it. The simplified pro-totype of a hybrid Cartesian robot for knee joint surgery provides sufficient accuracy in resection of hard bone and has good prospects for practical use.