Autonomous robotic palpation of soft tissue using the modulation of applied force

Konstantinova, Jelizaveta; Cotugno, Giuseppe; Althoefer, Kaspar; Nanayakkara, Thrishantha

doi:10.1109/biorob.2016.7523646

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…21 For example, the detection of embedded nodules in soft tissues requires highly sensitive sensors as the variation of stiffness is below 0.1 kPa for very small nodules (mm). 22…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymeric foams for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors

et al. 2019

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Flexible low-pressure sensors (<10 kPa) are required in areas as diverse as blood-pressure monitoring, human-computer interactions, robotics, and object detection. For applications, it is essential that these sensors combine flexibility, high sensitivity, robustness, and low production costs. Previous works involve surface micro-patterning, electronic amplification (OFET), and hydrogels. However, these solutions are limited as they involve complex processes, large bias voltages, large energy consumption, or are sensitive to evaporation. Here, we report a major advance to solve the challenge of scalable, efficient and robust e-skin. We present an unconventional capacitive sensor based on composite foam materials filled with conductive carbon black particles. Owing to the elastic buckling of the foam pores, the sensitivity exceeds 35 kPa −1 for pressure <0.2 kPa. These performances are one order of magnitude higher than the ones previously reported. These materials are low-cost, easy to prepare, and display high capacitance values, which are easy to measure using low-cost electronics. These materials pave the road for the implementation of e-skin in commercialized applications.

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“…21 For example, the detection of embedded nodules in soft tissues requires highly sensitive sensors as the variation of stiffness is below 0.1 kPa for very small nodules (mm). 22…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymeric foams for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors

et al. 2019

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“…Prior to robotic tracheotomy surgery, precisely identifying the trachea rings, thus, the appropriate localization of the incision region is a critical issue. However, the robotic tracheotomy system can hardly determine the appropriate position of the incision or tracheal rings by direct palpation without tactile feedback directly [17]- [19]. Tactile sensors can be installed at the tracheotomy robot's distal end for tactile feedback to the surgeons [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RASEC: Rescaling Acquisition Strategy with Energy Constraints under Fusion Kernel for Active Incision Recommendation in Tracheotomy

Yue,

Bai,

Liu

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Tracheotomy is commonly performed for patients needing prolonged intubation, airway obstruction, and neck injuries. Accurate placement of the incision and the tracheal window is paramount in order to avoid complications. Current surgical technique heavily relies on palpating cartilage landmarks on the neck to place the incision. In order to achieve the accelerated goals of the robot-assisted subtask in a tracheotomy, this paper proposes a novel autonomous palpation-based acquisition strategy -RASEC in the tracheal region, which can interactively determine the next best acquisition point in order to maximize the expected acquisition information and minimize the expected costs of palpation procedure. We employ a Gaussian Process (GP) to model the distribution of hardness and utilize anatomical information as a priori input to guide the point of palpation for medical robots. The dynamic tactile sensor based on the resonant frequency is introduced to measure tissue hardness in the tracheal region by millimeter-scale gentle contact to secure the interaction. To figure out the drawbacks that the existing kernel functions are not sufficiently optimal in this scenario, we investigate the kernel fusion method to blend the Squared Exponential (SE) kernel with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) kernel. Moreover, we further regularize the exploration and greed factors, and the tactile sensor's moving distance and the robotic base link's rotation angle during the incision localization process are considered new factors in the acquisition strategy. Simulation and physical phantom experiments are conducted for comparison with stateof-the-art GP-based exploration approaches. The results show that the sensor's moving distance was optimized to 53.1% and the rotation angle of the base was optimized to 75.2% of the previous values without sacrificing overall performance capabilities. The satisfying algorithmic index (average precision 0.932, average recall 0.973, average F1 score 0.952) with fewer central estimation distance errors (0.423 mm) and high resolution (1 mm) indicates the performance of the proposed RASEC in terms of exploration efficiency, cost awareness, and localization accuracy for incision localization and recommendation in real robot-assisted subtask in the tracheotomy procedure.

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“…There are several types of tissue palpation devices with different structural configurations and sensing mechanisms. Among these, force [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] and pressure [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ] sensors have been widely used to correlate the induced mechanical stimuli from the robot with the deformation of tissues to quantify tissue stiffness. These sensors are designed through different operating mechanisms, for instance, devices based on indentation depth use large and smooth contact surfaces to accurately measure tissue characteristics [ 11 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparent Pneumatic Tactile Sensors for Soft Biomedical Robotics

Zhao

Nguyễn

Hoang

et al. 2023

Sensors

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Palpation is a simple but effective method to distinguish tumors from healthy tissues. The development of miniaturized tactile sensors embedded on endoscopic or robotic devices is key to achieving precise palpation diagnosis and subsequent timely treatment. This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of a novel tactile sensor with mechanical flexibility and optical transparency that can be easily mounted on soft surgical endoscopes and robotics. By utilizing the pneumatic sensing mechanism, the sensor offers a high sensitivity of 1.25 mbar and negligible hysteresis, enabling the detection of phantom tissues with different stiffnesses ranging from 0 to 2.5 MPa. Our configuration, combining pneumatic sensing and hydraulic actuating, also eliminates electrical wiring from the functional elements located at the robot end-effector, thereby enhancing the system safety. The optical transparency path in the sensors together with its mechanical sensing capability open interesting possibilities in the early detection of solid tumor as well as in the development of all-in-one soft surgical robots that can perform visual/mechanical feedback and optical therapy.

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Autonomous robotic palpation of soft tissue using the modulation of applied force

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Polymeric foams for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors

Polymeric foams for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors

RASEC: Rescaling Acquisition Strategy with Energy Constraints under Fusion Kernel for Active Incision Recommendation in Tracheotomy

Transparent Pneumatic Tactile Sensors for Soft Biomedical Robotics

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