CRI听力: Robots with Haptic Technology

A new robotic arm enables surgeons to feel a patient during remote surgery. Rather than using just their eyes to judge how much pressure they're exerting on a patient while using a robotic arm, tactile feedback lets surgeons touch a patient through a series of sensors.

Our reporter Li Dong has the details.



Keio University has developed the new tactile sensor robot, that enables the operator to actually feel the object that is being operated on.

The master-slave manipulators system, enhanced with tactile sensors, feeds back the exact elasticity of an object that the robot forceps are touching.

Yasuhide Morikawa, Professor of Paediatric Surgery at Keio University, explains that this will enable surgeons to feel what the robot is doing.

"When surgeons operate using a master slave manipulator system, they mostly rely on their eyes to judge the strength exerted on the cavity, they don't actually feel it. So too much pressure will cut the tissues, but we will not have that with this machine. But this new system will enable the surgeons to feel the elasticity of the cavity and judge how much strength they should apply."

Low-invasive operations with minimal incision have become increasingly popular in the past years. Surgeons have to operate with the help of forceps, which don't provide them with enough feedback of the force that's being applied.

The new master-slave manipulator mimics the movements of surgeons' wrists and fingers, enabling the surgeons to operate within proximity of the patients or from a remote location.

Using the handles at the "master" control system, surgeons direct the forceps attached at the end of the so called "slave" system, a receptor robot.

Kohei Ohnishi, a Professor at Keio University, says surgeons get to experience a tactile sensation.

"In this testing machine the minimum force is around one gram weight. That is the equivalent to a very small coin's weight. That is enough for a very sensitive surgeon. And also we have some kind of very special technology to enhance the touching sensation. So in that case we can intensify the force say ten times or twenty times."

This new robotic system is said to surpass the epoch-making medical master-slave manipulator called "Da Vinci" developed by Intuitive Surgical Inc.

The Da Vinci Surgical System is a computer-enhanced system that places a computer between the surgeon's hands and the tips of micro-instruments. The system replicates the surgeon's movements in real time. However, it doesn't offer any tactile feedback to surgeons, unlike the master-slave manipulators system.

Another advantage of the new master-slave manipulator is that it can recreate the operations done by skilful surgeons, enabling new surgeons to gain "hands-on" experience of their skills.

Professor Ohnishi says there are endless applications to the system beyond the medical application.

"Maybe the first one is for medical application, but the next target may be a kind of say haptic broadcasting or game industry or something. And this tactile sensors will give us very vivid impression against the target. So I think we will have very large future market."

For CRI, I am Li Dong.