An integrated pneumatic tactile feedback actuator array for robotic surgery

Abstract

Background A pneumatically controlled balloon actuator array has been developed to provide tactile feedback to the fingers during robotic surgery.

Visual–perceptual mismatch in robotic surgery

“…Significant research has been dedicated to identification these shortcomings, in the hope that a better understanding of these limitation can allow engineers to introduce improvements and design changes needed to remedy outstanding problems. Some of the most commonly discussed limitation of robotic systems have included, lack of appropriate tools for various cardiac and abdominal surgeries 18–20 , lack of accessibility in large area surgeries 21 , limited function and arm collision in non-standard positions such as Trendelenburg 22–25 and, most obviously, lack of haptic feedback 5,13,26,22,20 . Research has recently been focused on developing solutions for the aforementioned problems, from single-access robotic systems such as Titan Medical SPORT Surgical System to haptics feedback devices that can act as accessories for existing surgical systems 27 .…”

“…This would allow us to determine the extent to which tactile sensory information assists in compensating for visual-perceptual mismatch (if at all). Therefore, the same configuration as the misaligned group was used but with the addition of a normal-force tactile feedback system we had developed for the da Vinci 13 . For providing tactile feedback, we installed piezoresistive force sensors on the graspers (Figure 1c) and utilized a feedback system described by Franco et al which relies on pneumatic actuators installed on the fingertips to convey normal forces 13 .…”

“…The grip force, time of completion, and number of faults for each subject was collected by a custom application that receives grip force data directly from grasper-mounted Flexi-force sensors 13 . The proctor marks the beginning of each trial and the number of times the participant drops the peg directly in the program.…”

A piezoresistive tactile sensor for tissue characterization during catheter‐based cardiac surgery

“…For such purposes, a wide range of force and tactile sensors have been introduced. For instance, King et al have integrated a force feedback system into a da Vinci surgical robot (4,11). In their proposed system, a commercially available FlexiForce sensor and a pneumatic physical force display have been used to investigate the effects of force feedback alone on grasping performance during MIRS performed by the da Vinci.…”

Tactile Feedback for Artery Detection in Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery – Preliminary Results of a New Approach

“…Moreover, future development in haptic feedback is expected to focus on tactility. Although a lot of research has been performed [8][9][10][11], none of the proposed solutions in tactile feedback have prevailed yet.…”