Source Paper: Towards a soft robotic skin for autonomous tissue palpation
F. Campisano et al., “Towards a soft robotic skin for autonomous tissue palpation,” 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017, pp. 6150-6155, doi: 10.1109/ICRA.2017.7989729.
This paper covers the use of a soft robot skin for autonomous tissue palpation, a process which is used to locate tumors but is not feasible in minimally invasive or robotic surgery. It explores a skin made of soft robotic tactile elements that are able to expand and record the tissue response during expansion.
Root Paper: Remote palpation technology
R. D. Howe, W. J. Peine, D. A. Kantarinis and J. S. Son, “Remote palpation technology,” in IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 318-323, May-June 1995, doi: 10.1109/51.391770.
This paper covers how the surgeons sense of touch has been used to perceive anatomical structures and pathologies, but new minimally invasive techniques have separated the surgeons hands from the surgical site. The paper then explores tactile sensors and how they can be used to recreate the tactile stimulus directly on the surgeon’s finger tip
It has 218 paper citiations and was also cited in :
Related Paper: Modeling and testing of a sensor capable of determining the stiffness of biological tissues
J. Dargahi, S. Najarian, V. Mirjalili and B. Liu, “Modelling and testing of a sensor capable of determining the stiffness of biological tissues,” in Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 45-51, Winter 2007, doi: 10.1109/CJECE.2007.364332.
This paper covers using sensors in rubber like materials to create a probe that could estimate the stiffness of materials and how this can be applied to breast cancer detection.