scholarly journals A Survey of Tactile-Sensing Systems and Their Applications in Biomedical Engineering

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Al-Handarish ◽  
Olatunji Mumini Omisore ◽  
Tobore Igbe ◽  
Shipeng Han ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Minimally Invasive ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tactile Sensing ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Sensing Systems ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

Over the past few decades, tactile sensors have become an emerging field of research in both academia and industry. Recent advances have demonstrated application of tactile sensors in the area of biomedical engineering and opened up new opportunities for building multifunctional electronic skin (e-skin) which is capable of imitating the human sense-of-touch for medical purposes. Analyses have shown that current smart tactile sensing technology has the advantages of high performance, low-cost, time efficiency, and ease-of-fabrication. Tactile sensing systems have thus sufficiently matured for integration into several fields related to biomedical engineering. Furthermore, artificial intelligence has the potential for being applied in human-machine interfacing, for instance, in medical robotic manipulation, especially during minimally invasive robotic surgery, where tactile sensing is usually a problem. In this survey, we present a comprehensive review of the state of the art of tactile sensors. We focus on the technical details of transduction mechanisms such as piezoresistivity, capacitance, piezoelectricity, and triboelectric and highlight the role of novel and commonly used materials in tactile sensing. In addition, we discuss contributions that have been reported in the field of biomedical engineering, which includes its present and future applications in building multifunctional e-skins, human-machine interfaces, and minimally invasive surgical robots. Finally, some challenges and notable improvements that have been made in the technical aspects of tactile sensing systems are reported.

FlexDex™: A Minimally Invasive Surgical Tool With Enhanced Dexterity and Intuitive Control

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shorya Awtar ◽  
Tristan T. Trutna ◽  
Jens M. Nielsen ◽  
Rosa Abani ◽  
James Geiger
Keyword(s):  
Minimally Invasive ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Surgical Tool ◽  
Design Paradigm ◽  
Rotational Degrees Of Freedom

This paper presents a new minimally invasive surgical (MIS) tool design paradigm that enables enhanced dexterity, intuitive control, and natural force feedback in a low-cost compact package. The paradigm is based on creating a tool frame that is attached to the surgeon’s forearm, making the tool shaft an extension of the latter. Two additional wristlike rotational degrees of freedom (DoF) provided at an end-effector that is located at the end of the tool shaft are manually actuated via a novel parallel-kinematic virtual center mechanism at the tool input. The virtual center mechanism, made possible by the forearm-attached tool frame, creates a virtual two-DoF input joint that is coincident with the surgeon’s wrist, allowing the surgeon to rotate his/her hand with respect to his/her forearm freely and naturally. A cable transmission associated with the virtual center mechanism captures the surgeon’s wrist rotations and transmits them to the two corresponding end-effector rotations. This physical configuration allows an intuitive and ergonomic one-to-one mapping of the surgeon’s forearm and hand motions at the tool input to the end-effector motions at the tool output inside the patient’s body. Moreover, a purely mechanical construction ensures low-cost, simple design, and natural force feedback. A functional decomposition of the proposed physical configuration is carried out to identify and design key modules in the system—virtual center mechanism, tool handle and grasping actuation, end-effector and output joint, transmission system, tool frame and shaft, and forearm brace. Development and integration of these modules leads to a proof-of-concept prototype of the new MIS tool, referred to as FlexDex™, which is then tested by a focused end-user group to evaluate its performance and obtain feedback for the next stage of technology development.

Toward lean minimally invasive robotic surgery

Robotica ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Zoppi ◽  
Mohammed Aamir Khan ◽  
Felix Schäfer ◽  
Rezia Molfino
Keyword(s):  
Minimally Invasive ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Needlescopic Surgery ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Medical Centers ◽  
Limited Life ◽  
Small Force ◽  
Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery ◽  
Single Instrument

SUMMARYDeveloped minimally invasive surgical (MIS) robots are large multi-arm, multipurpose systems requiring significant investments that limit their availability in hospitals. A larger distribution of MIS robots with benefit for patients might be achieved improving their modularity and scalability so that smaller hospitals or medical centers could decide for a simpler and lower cost setup for a limited number of treatments only, while centers with higher funding could have more systems dedicated to different classes of operations. In line with this statement the paper proposes the paradigm of lean MIS system comprising a scalable set of modular, agile, small size single-instrument robots with limited life cycle cost. Miniaturization of instruments can further reduce invasiveness of procedures and one promising research direction is needle laparoscopic surgery, which can be applied to classes of operations on small regions requiring small force interaction with the patient. In the paper the development of a lean single-instrument manipulator for needlescopic surgery is presented and a new master concept for accurate restitution of surgical force proposed and discussed.

scholarly journals Graphene Nanostructure-Based Tactile Sensors for Electronic Skin Applications

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Miao ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Congcong Zhang ◽  
Mingyuan Sun ◽  
Shanshan Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Tactile Sensing ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Electronic Skin ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Commercial Applications ◽  
Advanced Robotics

Abstract Skin is the largest organ of the human body and can perceive and respond to complex environmental stimulations. Recently, the development of electronic skin (E-skin) for the mimicry of the human sensory system has drawn great attention due to its potential applications in wearable human health monitoring and care systems, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and human–machine interfaces. Tactile sense is one of the most important senses of human skin that has attracted special attention. The ability to obtain unique functions using diverse assembly processible methods has rapidly advanced the use of graphene, the most celebrated two-dimensional material, in electronic tactile sensing devices. With a special emphasis on the works achieved since 2016, this review begins with the assembly and modification of graphene materials and then critically and comprehensively summarizes the most advanced material assembly methods, device construction technologies and signal characterization approaches in pressure and strain detection based on graphene and its derivative materials. This review emphasizes on: (1) the underlying working principles of these types of sensors and the unique roles and advantages of graphene materials; (2) state-of-the-art protocols recently developed for high-performance tactile sensing, including representative examples; and (3) perspectives and current challenges for graphene-based tactile sensors in E-skin applications. A summary of these cutting-edge developments intends to provide readers with a deep understanding of the future design of high-quality tactile sensing devices and paves a path for their future commercial applications in the field of E-skin.

scholarly journals Piezoelectricity of a Ferrocene-based Organic Small Molecule

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Feng ◽  
Ling Li ◽  
Jianyu Zhang ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
Qingsong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Density Functional ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Piezoelectric Sensor ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Molecular Configuration ◽  
Wearable Systems ◽  
Optical And Electronic Properties

Non-centrosymmetric crystals with piezoelectric properties have emerged as promising materials for smart wearable systems and biomimetic robots. Here we present a novel small ferrocene-based organic molecule crystal (<b>Fc-Cz</b>) possessing high anisotropic-dependent optical and electronic properties, which has been utilized as an ultrasensitive piezoelectric material for the development of a strain sensor. The flexible piezoelectric sensor can distinguish subtle strain or deformations (such as wrist motion) with fast response time (< 40 ms) via detectable piezoelectric signals (<i>I</i><sub>max</sub> = 580 pA). Density functional theory (DFT) indicated that the external pressure can affect the dipole moment by changing the molecular configuration of the asymmetric single crystal <b>Fc-Cz</b> in the crystalline state, leading to a change of polarity, as well as an enhanced dielectric constant. Based on our knowledge, this work is the first example verifying that artificial organic small molecules can serve as simple, stable, high-performance tactile sensors, and this has the potential to open the door to low-cost flexible wearable devices and energy harvesting applications.

Recent Advancements in Smart Sensors and Sensing Technology

2012 ◽  
pp. 334-353
Author(s):  
Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Biomedical Application ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Microwave Integrated Circuits ◽  
Voltage Controlled Oscillators ◽  
Op Amp ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Sensing Systems ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Set Up

The chapter presents the design and development of very low cost planar sensors and sensing systems for measuring fat contents in meat, leather quality assessment, food quality, and biomedical application such as cancer detection, agriculture, and RFID based detection systems. The sensors comprise planar passive microwave integrated circuits in the forms of microstrip meander lines, mesh and inter-digital capacitance. The sensors are excited with voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) and power supply units. A data acquisition system based on a microcontroller and an op-amp based interfacing circuits complete the sensing system. The results of various characteristics parameters of samples are presented and compared with the results from expensive conventional measurement set up. These low cost sensors bring benefits in the sensing technology with novel and accurate concepts.

FlexDex™: A Minimally Invasive Surgical Tool With Enhanced Dexterity and Intuitive Actuation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shorya Awtar ◽  
Tristan T. Trutna ◽  
Rosa Abani ◽  
Jens M. Nielsen ◽  
Andrew B. Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Minimally Invasive ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tool Design ◽  
System Level ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Minimally Invasive Surgical ◽  
Surgical Tool ◽  
Design Paradigm

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a novel minimally invasive surgical (MIS) tool — FlexDex™ — that provides enhanced dexterity, intuitive actuation, and natural force feedback in a cost-effective compact package. These attributes are accomplished by means of a fundamentally new MIS tool design paradigm that employs a tool reference attached to the surgeon’s arm, and utilizes a virtual center at the tool input that coincides with the surgeon’s wrist. The resulting physical configuration enables a highly intuitive one-to-one mapping of the surgeon’s arm and hand motions at the tool input to the end-effector motions at the tool output inside the patient’s body. Furthermore, a purely mechanical design ensures low-cost, simple construction, and natural force feedback. A functional decomposition of the proposed design paradigm and associated physical configuration is carried out to identify key modules in the system. This allows for the conceptual and detailed design of each module, followed by system-level integration. The key innovative aspects of the tool design include a three-dimensional parallel-kinematic virtual center mechanism, a decoupled 2DoF end-effector design, and the associated transmissions system.

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