Date of Award

6-8-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2016.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Chris Kitts

Abstract

Current manufacturing test systems for motor control of Hansen's line of surgical robots are labor intensive, have room for operator error and do not supply sufficient information. Based upon an expected increase in production, the objective of this project was to replace their test protocol with a modular test fixture that improves test time, is intuitive to use, and enhances the user experience. We developed a modular design that works for both the Sensei and Magellan robots, and can be reconfigured easily for use on future robots. Using a control system and GUI made in LabVIEW, a magnetic particle as our torque actuator, and a Futek rotary torque sensor for precise data acquisition, our device is a creative, efficient, and effective replacement to Hansen’s quality testing. We successfully develop an equivalent test, surpassed our goal of decreasing test time, our fixture is completely modular for all Hansen’s RCMs, we integrated two tests into a single operation, and we received favorable feedback from the engineers and technicians whom proposed this project. This project succeeded in creating a functional prototype to replace Hansen Medical’s current test protocol. Our test system has been handed off to Hansen Medical for implementation and further development.

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