A sensorless force-feedback system for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Haptic Feedback

Background:

• Existing surgical robots for laparoscopic surgery lack adequate force feedback, hindering tactile sensation.
• Traditional sensor-based force feedback solutions present numerous challenges in implementation and reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a teleoperation surgical system with sensorless force feedback for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.
• To evaluate the system's effectiveness in enabling surgeons to regain tactile information and improve tissue differentiation.

Main Methods:

• A teleoperation surgical system was constructed, estimating tool-tissue interaction forces using driving motor current.
• A position-force bilateral control algorithm was implemented to provide force feedback to the master robot.
• Stiffness differentiation and tumor detection experiments were conducted to assess system performance.

Main Results:

• The system achieved a 96% success rate in correctly identifying stiffness differences between tissues (43 out of 45 pairs).
• In tumor detection tasks, 80% of participants successfully located the tumor using the force feedback system (4 out of 5).

Conclusions:

• The proposed sensorless force-feedback system effectively restores tactile sensation for surgeons in robot-assisted laparoscopic procedures.
• This technology can significantly aid surgeons in distinguishing between healthy and cancerous tissues, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy and surgical outcomes.