Abstract
Tactile sensors are important bionic microelectromechanical systems that are used to implement an artificial sense of touch for medical electronics. Compared with the natural sense of touch, this artificial sense of touch provides more quantitative information, augmenting the objective aspects of several medical operations, such as palpation-based diagnosis. Tactile sensors can be effectively used for hardness differentiation during the palpation process. Since palpation requires direct physical contact with patients, medical safety concerns are alleviated if the sensors used can be made disposable. In this respect, the low-cost, rapid fabrication of tactile sensors based on polymers is a possible alternative. The present work uses the 3D printing of elastic resins and the laser micromachining of piezoelectric polymeric films to make a low-cost tactile sensor for hardness differentiation through palpation. The fabricated tactile sensor has a sensitivity of 1.52 V/mm to mechanical deformation at the vertical direction, a sensitivity of 11.72 mV/HA in sensing material hardness with a pressing depth of 500 µm for palpation, and a validated capability to detect rigid objects buried in a soft tissue phantom. Its performance is comparable with existing piezoelectric tactile sensors for similar applications. In addition, the tactile sensor has the additional advantage of providing a simpler microfabrication process.
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Mechanical Engineering,Control and Systems Engineering
Reference39 articles.
1. Evaluation of patients presenting with knee pain: Part I. History, physical examination, radiographs, and laboratory tests;Calmbach;Am. Fam. Physician,2003
2. A Systematic, Critical Review of Manual Palpation for Identifying Myofascial Trigger Points: Evidence and Clinical Significance;Myburgh;Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil.,2008
3. Giant rectosigmoid lithobezoar in a child: Four significant clues obtained from history, abdominal palpation, rectal examination and plain abdominal X-ray;Tokar;Eur. J. Radiol. Extra,2004
4. Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Identification and Assessment during Thyroid Surgery: Laryngeal Palpation;Randolph;World J. Surg.,2004
5. Gomes, P. (2012). Medical Robotics: Minimally Invasive Surgery, Elsevier.
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献