Current endoscopes and instruments are inadequate in some respects for complex intra-abdominal surgery because
they are too flexible and cannot provide robust grasping and anatomic retraction. Minimal invasive surgery devices represent
a sophisticated class of mechanical instruments making use of a range of mechanisms integrated into modular platforms
that can be combined to undertake complex medical procedures. Although the machine elements concerned
represent classic mechanical engineering devices, issues of miniaturization, surgical procedure compliance and location
control conspire to present a design challenge. In order to capture, document and resolve the design requirements for
this complex application, quality functional deployment has been applied in combination with design rationale, captured
through issue-based information system mapping. This article reports the use of these tools to produce robot designs
with improved dexterity and triangulation that are basic requirements in laparoscopy.