CTCR Prototype Development: An Obstacle in the Research Community?

Reinhard M Grassmann, Sven Lilge, Phuong Le, Jessica Burgner-Kahrs

Abstract:

Due to their small size and ability to follow nonlinear
paths, concentric tube continuum robots might offer new
opportunities for minimally invasive surgery. Currently, several
research groups in this relatively young field are working on
early-stage prototypes to develop technologies and methodologies
to realize this envisioned application. To date, a large variety of
different prototypes exists across the individual research groups.

In this paper, current habits of the research community are
investigated that cause such a proliferation of many different
prototypes. System thinking tools are applied to provide an indepth
analysis of the dynamics between publication pressure
and developing prototypes. According to a gathered data set
based on 139 publications in this research field, 53.2 % of the
publications include a robot-based evaluation. However, 61.1 %
of 36 prototypes are only used in one publication, indicating a
low prototype reuse rate. As a result, a lot of time is devoted
to create prototypes which hinders the development of a robotic
platform. Such a robotic platform can leverage the whole research
community by focusing efforts on the main research challenges.

Keywords: Continuum Robotics, Concentric Tube Continuum Robot, Research Community, Prototype, Meta-Analysis, System Thinking, Retrospective