An integrated pneumatic tactile feedback actuator array for robotic surgery

Abstract

Background: A pneumatically controlled balloon actuator array has been developed to provide tactile feedback to the fingers during robotic surgery. Methods: The actuator and pneumatics were integrated onto a robotic surgical system. Potential interference of the inactive system was evaluated using a timed robotic peg transfer task. System performance was evaluated by measuring human perception of the thumb and index finger. Results: No significant difference was found between performance with and without the inactive mounted actuator blocks. Subjects were able to determine inflation location with >95% accuracy and five discrete inflation levels with both the index finger and thumb with accuracies of 94% and 92%. Temporal tests revealed that an 80 ms temporal separation was sufficient to detect balloon stimuli with high accuracy. Conclusions: The mounted balloon actuators successfully transmitted tactile information to the index finger and thumb, while not hindering performance of robotic surgical movements. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.