Refinement and Prototyping of a Motor-Driven Dental Articulator

触觉机器人是一家总部位于马尼托巴省的公司，为医疗、牙科和康复治疗应用开发触觉、机器人和仪器技术，是加拿大工业4.0愿景计划的积极成员。该公司开发了一种电动牙科咬合机，用于培训牙科医生，作为对传统新手到专家学徒模式中使用的仪器的改进。这一发展的动机包括当前的临床前牙科课程无法为学生提供完整的治疗或从培训计划过渡到患者护理诊所做好充分准备。学生通常需要在非常严格的监督下接受数年的临床前动手培训，以获得实践所需的专业知识。虽然对严格的临床前培训的需求仍将是一项要求，但由触觉机器人公司发明的新型牙科咬合机将有助于为学生提供轻松过渡和与实际患者护理环境相结合所需的课堂体验。与目前使用的桌面技术不提供代表性方向相比，牙科咬合架的新颖性在于，学生有机会使用一个平台来学习牙科任务的操作，模拟实际操作中直接模拟患者姿势和姿势的人类口腔。电动牙科咬合机是用于培训牙科和牙科卫生专业学生的振动触觉牙科平台(DenTeach TM)的一部分。TACAM团队将利用学院在设计、机电系统集成和制造工艺方面的现有能力和专业知识来交付该项目。触觉机器人代表了马尼托巴省一家进步的中小型企业(SME)，致力于高度优先的研发活动。该公司有能力通过商业化实施并进一步推动该项目的成果。学院团队期待着在现有的设计和先进制造知识的基础上扩大医疗应用的机会。所获得的知识将使从事该项目的学生/实习生、研究人员和教职员工受益，并将在未来的研究活动中有用。

Tactile Robotics is a Manitoba-based company that develops haptics, robotics and instrumentation technologies for medical, dentistry and rehabilitation therapy applications, and is an active member of Industry 4.0 visionary program in Canada. The company developed a motor-driven dental articulator for deployment in training dental practitioners as an improvement over the instrumentation used in the traditional novice-to-expert apprentice model. The motivation for this development includes the inability of the current pre-clinical dental curriculum to fully prepare students for providing complete treatment or transition to patient care clinics from the training programs. Students will typically require several years of pre-clinical hands-on training under very strict supervision in order to acquire the expertise for practice. While the need for a rigorous pre-clinical training will continue to be a requirement, the new dental articulator invented by Tactile Robotics will be useful for providing students with the classroom experience required for easy transitioning and integration with the actual patient care setting. The novelty of the dental articulator is in the opportunity for the students to learn the operation of dental tasks using a platform, simulating the human's oral cavity that directly mimics the posture and orientation of patients in real practice, compared to the currently used tabletop technique that does not provide the representative orientations. The motor-driven dental articulator is part of a vibrotactile dental platform (DenTeach TM) that is used for training dental and dental hygiene students. TACAM team will capitalize on the College's existing capabilities and expertise in design, electromechanical systems integration and fabrication processes to deliver this project. Tactile Robotics represents a progressive Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) in Manitoba with a high-priority commitment to research and development activities. The company has the capacity to implement and further advance the results of this project through commercialization. The College team is looking forward to expanding on existing knowledge in design and advanced manufacturing with opportunities for medical applications. The knowledge gained will benefit students/interns working on the project, research personnel and faculty and will be useful in future research engagements.