Second-Generation Hand-Held Force Magnifier for Surgical Instruments
Abstract
We have developed a novel and relatively simple method for magnifying forces perceived by an operator using a surgical tool. A sensor measures force between the tip of a tool and its handle, and a proportionally greater force is created by an actuator between the handle and a brace attached to the operator’s hand, providing an enhanced perception of forces at the tip of the tool. Magnifying forces in this manner may provide an improved ability to perform delicate surgical procedures. The device is completely hand-held and can thus be easily manipulated to a wide variety of locations and orientations. We have previously developed a prototype capable of amplifying forces only in the push direction, and which had a number of other limiting factors. We now present second-generation and third-generation devices, capable of both push and pull, and describe some of the engineering concerns in their design, as well as our future directions.
(oral presentaiton)
BibTeX
@workshop{Lee-2012-104395,author = {R. Lee and G. Stetten and V. Shivaprabhu and R. Klatzky and J. Galeotti and S. Horvath and M. Siegel and J. Schuman and R. Hollis},
title = {Second-Generation Hand-Held Force Magnifier for Surgical Instruments},
booktitle = {Proceedings of 7th International Workshop on Augmented Environments for Computer-Assisted Interventions (AE-CAI '12)},
year = {2012},
month = {October},
pages = {77 - 89},
}