A Tactile Sensing and Display System for Surgical Applications
Peine William J., Dimitrios A. Kontarinis, Howe Robert D. · Studies in health technology and informatics · 1995
Certain medical techniques, such as endoscopic surgery, deprive surgeons of the ability to palpate tissue within the body. We describe a system that can remotely measure small scale shape information and recreate it on the fingertips of the surgeon. A tactile array sensor measures the pressure distribution at its contact area. This is processed to determine the shape of the object it is contacting. This information is then displayed to the surgeon through the shape display. Artery and tumor localization experiments were performed with the system. By placing the shape display on the tip of a two axis manipulator, haptic exploration of a virtual environment was tested. A computer generated model allowed a virtual tumor localization experiment to be performed. Initial results indicate that the system is able to successfully convey shape information.