In robotically assisted surgical procedures the
surgical tool is usually inserted in the patient’s body through
a small incision, which acts as a constraint for the motion
of the robot, known as remote center of Motion (RCM). The
location of the insertion point on the patient’s body has huge
effects on the performances of the surgical robot. In this work
we present an offline pre-operative framework to identify the
optimal insertion point location in order to guarantee accurate
and safe surgical task execution. The approach is validated
using a serial-link manipulator in conjunction with a surgical
robotic tool to perform a tumor resection task, while avoiding
nearby organs. Results show that the framework is capable of
identifying the best insertion point ensuring high dexterity, high
tracking accuracy, and safety in avoiding nearby organs.