A Micro‐3‐Degree‐of‐Freedom Force Sensor for Intraocular Dexterous Surgical Robots

Abstract

The continuum manipulator improves the intraocular robot flexibility during retinal surgery. Herein, a micro‐3‐degree of freedom (DOF) force sensor with a length of only 3.8 mm that can adjust the puncture angle during retinal vein cannulation (RVC) is proposed. Taking advantage of 3D printing technology, the optical fiber and injection line are embedded in the nitinol tube with flexible hinges to achieve integration of the force sensing and injection functions. A new fiber Bragg grating (FBG) configuration method and linear decoupling algorithm are also proposed herein. Static calibration experiments demonstrate excellent resolution of the force sensor, of less than 0.072 mN for transverse force and 0.738 mN for the axial force in the range from −20 to 20 mN. The proposed sensor is installed on a newly developed actuator, and an ex vivo experiment is performed on pig cadaver eyes. The interaction forces at each stage of the RVC are recorded in detail for the first time, further confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of the developed sensor for monitoring the RVC interaction forces.

Acoustic-propelled micro/nanomotors and nanoparticles for biomedical research, diagnosis, and therapeutic applications

“…Using similar principles, ( Fonseca et al, 2022 ), generated TWs in liquid with one PZT transducer to simulate physiological flow environments in blood vessels, as illustrated in Figure 2C . Operations in blood vessels was found to be a complex and challenging procedure ( Zhang et al, 2023 ), while the acoustic method could also successfully transport micro/nanorobots across the flow and upstream without special requirements on the material used compared to magnetic propulsion methods ( Li et al, 2023 ), and it will not generate any additional magnetic fields. As micro/nanorobots have many potential applications in medical field, such as drug delivery ( Yu et al, 2023 ) and noncontact biomedical operations ( Ji et al, 2021 ), and it has been demonstrated ( Yu et al, 2022 ) that passive micro/nanomotors are capable of being moved in complex 3D environments, which enables the possibility to realize targeted drug delivery by generating a localized acoustic field.…”

A BTO/PVDF/PDMS Piezoelectric Tangential and Normal Force Sensor Inspired by a Wind Chime

“…Their high accuracy and sensitivity make them widely used in many fields. Through structural optimization and the continuous development of material technology [9][10][11][12][13], multi-directional force sensors can accurately measure and sense minute forces in all directions, bringing great potential for applications in industrial automation [14], medical diagnosis [15,16], and motion analysis [17][18][19]. Various wearable tactile sensors based on different sensing mechanisms have been widely noticed and reported, which include piezoresistive [20,21], capacitive [6,22], piezoelectric [23][24][25][26][27], and triboelectric [28,29].…”