Identification Method of Environmental Stiffness using Haptic Forceps for Brain Surgery

In surgical field, a technique of haptic transmission solves various problems such as limitation of visual field in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), operation mistakes, and so on. Generally, haptic transmission is used in large-scale robots whose end-effector is located in the remote side from the operator. In order to naturally utilize the technique of haptic transmission, it should be implemented in the tools which are frequently used by surgeons. This paper proposes a master-slave integrated haptic forceps like a pincet. The identification method of the environmental stiffness that the developed forceps contacts is proposed in order to consider the safety of operation. Assuming neurosurgery, the experiments using imitation models of brain tissue verified that the slight difference of the stiffness between a healthy tissue and a tumor can be recognized. Experimental results showed that the proposed forceps can be operated properly and the environmental stiffness is measured accurately. It also showed that by the scaling method of the bilateral control system, the identifications of the environmental stiffness became clearer.