Bio-Inspired Haptic Feedback for Artificial Palpation in Robotic Surgery

Adding haptic feedback has been reported to improve the outcome of minimally invasive robotic surgery. In this study, we seek to determine whether an algorithm based on simulating responses of a cutaneous afferent population can be implemented to improve the performance of presenting haptic feedback for robot-assisted surgery. We propose a bio-inspired controlling model to present vibration and force feedback to help surgeons localize underlying structures in phantom tissue. A single pair of actuators was controlled by outputs of a model of a population of cutaneous afferents based on the pressure signal from a single sensor embedded in surgical forceps. We recruited 25 subjects including 10 expert surgeons to evaluate the performance of the bio-inspired controlling model in an artificial palpation task using the da Vinci surgical robot. Among the control methods tested, the bio-inspired system was unique in allowing both novices and experts to easily identify the locations of all classes of tumors and did so with reduced contact force and tumor contact time. This work demonstrates the utility of our bio-inspired multi-modal feedback system, which resulted in superior performance for both novice and professional users, in comparison to a traditional linear and the existing piecewise discrete algorithms of haptic feedback.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate whether an algorithm simulating the responses of a cutaneous afferent population can improve the performance of presenting haptic feedback for robot-assisted surgery. A bio-inspired controlling model was proposed to provide vibration and force feedback to help surgeons identify underlying structures in phantom tissue. Results showed that the bio-inspired system allowed both novice and expert users to easily locate tumors with reduced contact force and tumor contact time, outperforming traditional linear and piecewise discrete algorithms of haptic feedback.