Micromechatronics in Surgery: Haptic sensors and feedback systems for minimally invasive surgery, medical devices and robotics

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* * 800x600* **Haptics*generally refers to touch feedback, which includes Kinesthetic (force) and*Cutaneous (tactile) feedback. Since direct manipulation and palpation of tissue*is not possible in manual Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), feedback*information about tactile tissue properties is considerably diminished. The*lack of haptics feedback in MIS has reportedly resulted in intraoperative*injury. In teleoperated Minimally*Invasive Robotic-assisted Surgery (MIRS), all natural haptics feedback is*eliminated because the surgeon no longer manipulates the instrument*directly. The lack of effective haptics*feedback is reported by surgeons and robotics researchers alike to be a major*limitation to current MIRS systems. Restoring part of the surgeon's sense of*touch through devices capable of providing Artificial Tactile Feedback (ATF) is*an active field of applied research and development. ***The primary objectives of the*presently proposed research are to design and fabricate innovative*tactile sensors and haptics feedback systems that satisfy the current need of*MIS and MIRS. The applicant has a patent in this area entitled: “Systems for*Sensing and Displaying Force and Softness” (United States. 20138,596,111). In addition, the applicant has a patent application entitled "System for Sensing a Mechanical Property of a Sample", (United States. 20130220032). These*patents/patent application considerably expand the current technology. The research program*proposed here will build upon the applicant's past experience and success in*developing tactile sensing and feedback systems to combine fully-optical,*micro-machined tactile sensing techniques with innovative physical tactile*display systems, which will address serious current surgical needs for*effective operations in MIS and MIRS. Moreover, the outcome of the research could*also be used in general robotics. For example, tactile or microtactile sensors*could be placed on the fingers of the robotic manipulators in the automotive,*aerospace, pharmaceutical, and paper industries as well as in food and beverage*processing. In addition, combined kinesthetic force and softness feedback would*have a huge market in the entertainment industry as well as in any industries*that use tele-manipulation or deal with virtual reality.