Laparoscopic surgical instruments have been used widely since 1980s and they are still important tool to the medical field as the surgical robot systems spread. In this study we devised three types of motorized mechanism to reduce the user hand fatigue. We detailed the mechanism of each type and compared the performances with several indices such as a bending angle, response time and number of mechanical components. And also we show the movement relationships among the jaw joint, passive gimbal set and motors in the case of MPDG (Motor Drive with a Push Disk and Driven Disk of Gimbal Mechanism) type during the typical jaw joint motions. MTPS (Modified Two Parallel Semicircle Guide Mechanism) type excels others in response time and number of components while showing the increase of load and kinematic occlusion during the diagonal movement. MBDG (Motor Drive with a Ball-Screw, Link and Disk Type Gimbal Mechanism) type shows the medium level bending performance with slow response time and large number of components. Lastly MPDG type excels in jaw joint bending performance with an unstable rotation motion transfer between pushing disk and driven disk at the large disk rotation angle.

Bending motion has been used in the surgical instruments with bending structures and tendon mechanisms. A simplified bending angle amplification ratio between the proximal and distal bending joint was derived in this article. The bending structure of disk and rib in the proximal joint was analyzed based on finite element method with an emphasis on the circumferential uniformity of bending stiffness. Regarding the distal joint, optimal design and sensitivity analysis was done with four design variables of outer and inner diameter, rib height and rib width while maximizing the deformation under the stress distribution below the yield stress. Outer diameter and rib width are most critical to maximum deformation as the outer diameter and inner diameters are so to maximum equivalent stress.