Xu Kai author Columbia University. Mechanical Engineering Goldman Roger Eric author Columbia University. Medicine Ding Jienan author Columbia University. Mechanical Engineering Fowler Dennis L. author Columbia University. Surgery Allen Peter K. author Columbia University. Computer Science Simaan Nabil author Columbia University. Mechanical Engineering Columbia University. Computer Science originator text Articles 2009 English This paper presents a novel design and preliminary kinematic analysis of an insertable robotic effector platform (IREP) for single port access (SPA) surgery. The IREP robot can be deployed into body cavity through a Ø15 mm skin incision to perform SPA procedures. It consists of two snake-like continuum robots as slave surgical assistants for tissue manipulation, two parallelogram mechanisms for the continuum robots' placement, and one controllable stereo vision module with integrated light source for depth perception and tool tracking. Design considerations and alternatives, calculations and preliminary simulations of this 17-DoF surgical robotic system are presented in this paper. The overall control system hierarchy for tele-manipulation using the IREP robot is also presented. Robotics Surgery Piscataway, N.J. IEEE 2009 5546 5552 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2009.5354028