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Tactile sensor with an inverted V-shaped indenter for elastic tissue identification

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Abstract

The collection of tactile information in minimally invasive surgery can give the surgeons important information about the tactile nature of the tissues being manipulated. In this paper, the dimensional design of a tactile sensor with an inverted V-shaped indenter is analyzed to distinguish the relative hardness and calculate the shear modulus of tissue. Contact analysis is performed between the tactile sensor and the elastic tissue according to the Barber’s method, in the case of a small ratio of the inner and outer contact radii, and Grinberg and Kuritsyn’s method in the case of a large ratio, respectively. Two analytical solutions are derived to show the relation of pressure, shear modulus and ratio. The demarcation point, 0.41 of ratio, is found which determines a choice of two load functions. The analytical solutions can be used to identify the relative hardness and calculate the shear modulus directly, which are verified in the experiments. Although the sensor size is big now, the measurement method for tissue identification is promising. The contact process is also capable to be used for analyzing the interaction between other medical equipment and elastic tissue.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Prof. Jason Moore and Dr. Pralav Shetty, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, USA, for their help in English language and constructive advice of paper structure in this study.

Funding

This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20141414).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Chenggang Li & Genbo Lü

  2. School of Automation, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003, China

    Jingjin Shen

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  1. Chenggang Li
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Correspondence to Chenggang Li.

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Li, C., Lü, G. & Shen, J. Tactile sensor with an inverted V-shaped indenter for elastic tissue identification. Intel Serv Robotics 13, 113–121 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-019-00304-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-019-00304-8

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