Computational optical palpation: a finite-element approach to micro-scale tactile imaging using a compliant sensor
Philip Wijesinghe1,2, David D Sampson3,4, Brendan F Kennedy5,2
1Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia philip.wijesinghe@gmail.com.
Abstract:
High-resolution tactile imaging, superior to the sense of touch, has potential for future biomedical applications such as robotic surgery. In this paper, we propose a tactile imaging method, termed computational optical palpation, based on measuring the change in thickness of a thin, compliant layer with optical coherence tomography and calculating tactile stress using finite-element analysis. We demonstrate our method on test targets and on freshly excised human breast fibroadenoma, demonstrating a resolution of up to 15-25 µm and a field of view of up to 7 mm. Our method is open source and readily adaptable to other imaging modalities, such as ultrasonography and confocal microscopy.
