Palpation instrument for augmented minimally invasive surgery

A preliminary design of a remote palpation instrument for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is given. The lack of the tactile sense in MIS limits the surgeon's abilities to examine and palpate internal organs. Based on this problem, the aim of this paper is to describe a surgical instrument which can serve as an extension of the surgeon's fingers. A piezoelectric sensor array attached to the instrument's end effector provide tactile information, which is sent to the surgeon's fingers via a tactile display to provide a feeling of the shape and hardness of the tissue. The sensor array is 24 mm /spl times/ 8 mm and consists of 30 piezoelectric sensors, while the tactile display constitutes of 30 micro motors adding up to a total size of 32 mm /spl times/ 18 mm /spl times/ 45 mm.