Robotic Arm Assistances in the Foot and Ankle Surgery: A Prospective Study

CATEGORY: Other; Ankle; Trauma INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Little is known about the robotic assistance in the foot and ankle surgery. The present study was to report the robotic arm innovation and its utilization in the foot and ankle surgery. METHODS: The robotic arm has been developed to serve for the tasks in foot and ankle surgery. This robot was called as ‘Limb- lifting assistance via robotic arm (LARA)’. It was designed to be a strong base with up and down movement of the trunk using the controller with safe level of electricity to lift its arm to support the ankle or leg during the perioperative period as the surgeon demanded as an attached picture. LARA was prospectively applied in the healthy volunteer and patients with foot and ankle diseases or injuries. The satisfaction levels were collected from the patient and user regarding LARA application. The physical and mental effort levels were also collected from the user during the use of LARA. The related complications were collected in all patients. RESULTS: There were no reported complication from the healthy volunteer. Froma total of 10 patients, there was a scratch at the skin of one patient’s ankle area but it was no need of treatment. Other 9 patients did not report the related complication from the LARA. There was no difference of significant complication between the healthy volunteer and the patients. Based on the data availability, the mean physical and mental effort levels were 5 from 100 (highest level = 100; lowest level = 0). The mean satisfaction level was 100 and 90 from the patient and user perspectives (highest = 100; lowest = 0) respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, LARA was safe and effective to apply in the perioperative use for the foot and ankle surgeries with low-level of human user effort in both physical and mental aspects.