Title: Preliminary study for the development of an autonomous system for emulating mandibular bone drilling

Authors: Leonardo Riva; Roberto Pagani; Antonio Fiorentino; Alberto Borboni; Elisabetta Ceretti

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy

Abstract: The use of service robotic systems has had a great expansion. An area in which these systems are used is medical robotics. The introduction of medical robots can limit the number of errors during surgery, where precision is needed. For example, in dental implantology, where a prosthesis is permanently fixed to the bone through drilling and screwing operations, the use of a robotic system can reduce the risk of unlucky events. This preliminary study investigates the feasibility of an autonomous drilling system based on collaborative robots. To evaluate their behaviour 3D printed specimens were developed to emulate the characteristics of cortical and trabecular bone during drilling. The tests show that the samples can generate a thrust force comparable to the one of bone. Finally, the precision and accuracy of the robot were found to be adequate for possible use in operations, subject to an initial evaluation of the system stiffness.

Keywords: additive manufacturing; PLA; polylactic acid; drilling; collaborative robots; dental implantology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2022.124923

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2022 Vol.15 No.2/3, pp.185 - 202

Received: 16 Dec 2021
Accepted: 16 May 2022
Published online: 16 Aug 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article