# SPRK: A Low-Cost Stewart Platform For Motion Study In Surgical Robotics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.02923 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.02923/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 8 Dec 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Constraint Estimation and Derivative-Free Recovery for Robot Learning from Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.10321/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

To simulate body organ motion due to breathing, heart beats, or peristaltic movements, we designed a low-cost, miniaturized SPRK (Stewart Platform Research Kit) to translate and rotate phantom tissue. This platform is 20cm x 20cm x 10cm to fit in the workspace of a da Vinci Research Kit (DVRK) surgical robot and costs 250, two orders of magnitude less than a commercial Stewart platform. The platform has a range of motion of +/- 1.27 cm in translation along x, y, and z directions and has motion modes for sinusoidal motion and breathing-inspired motion. Modular platform mounts were also designed for pattern cutting and debridement experiments. The platform's positional controller has a time-constant of 0.2 seconds and the root-mean-square error is 1.22 mm, 1.07 mm, and 0.20 mm in x, y, and z directions respectively. All the details, CAD models, and control software for the platform is available at github.com/BerkeleyAutomation/sprk.