Texas A&M Engineers Are Making Robotic Arms Steadier for Surgery
The researchers have found that delivering electrical pulses to fingertips is an effective yet simple way to provide proximity information.
Robots assisting workers is the future. Some people fear that making better robots will only lead to the downfall of humanity, jokingly, or in reality — the loss of jobs. Fear not, the future is more comfy. It is important to acknowledge that robots have helped improve our lives and work environments in many ways, such as manufacturing, space exploration, exoskeletons, warehousing and assisted living. Recently, scientists have started exploring ways to utilize robots in the medical field, especially in operating rooms. One solution is to use robotic arms in surgeries in order to make the operations the least invasive possible, give doctors more room to maneuver and better precision in some cases. However, the technology is not yet perfect.
Researchers at Texas A&M University are working on improving the precision with which robot-controlled operation is done. Currently, teleoperations involved the use of a camera attached to the robotic arms, allowing the doctors to follow the movements of the robotic arms and properly guide them without being physically next to the patient. The issue is that being able to guide the robot doesn’t guarantee precision during the operation because doctors can’t adequately assess distance in their movements or the pressure of their moves. To solve that issue, the team planned to send a signal to the fingers of the operator of the robotic arms as they get close enough to the area to be operated on, or when they attempt a pinching movement. The signal will be in the form of an electric shock, a faint but perceptible shock transmitted to the fingers of the operator.
The surgeon/operator of the robotic arms will wear a silicon glove with sensors at their fingertips. As the surgeon’s finger come together in a pinching motion, the sensor sent the information about the distance to the servo motor of the robotic arms to control the gripper movement. The sensors on the gripper tips will read the distance between it and the target object and communicate that information to the sensor on the surgeon, which will stimulate the naturally occurring electricity in the human body. The exact dosage of electricity is the frequency inversely proportionate to the distance. The technique dubbed “proximity sensation” has been tested against a vision only situation and a camera-assisted vision situation, and results showed that “proximity sensation” doubled the accuracy and precision of movements during a surgery compared to a camera-assisted operation. With such a discovery, one must wonder what other situations could benefit from the accuracy conveyed by the proximity sensation.