Current Challenges
On a global level, 310 million major surgeries are performed yearly, with 20 million taking place in Europe. Over 2 million are laparoscopies, the most widespread minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Yet, current commercial surgical systems cannot grasp the sense of palpation, a key sensory operation in surgical procedures. They may be ideal for localised problems but cannot adequately perform if the operating area takes up a larger part of the patient’s body. Plus, these systems are not widely available due to their high cost, training requirements and safety concerns.
During minimally invasive surgeries (MIS), haptic, visual or tactile feedback is not always adequate. Combined with the lack of dexterity in surgical tools, operations could be time-consuming and with an increased possibility of accidental tissue damage, amongst other negative effects. So, by optimising the laparoscopic tools and processes, reduced invasiveness and operative time, as well as increased safety and functionality, could be achieved.
Therefore, a deeper dive into soft robotics could be the answer to increased safety, dexterity and potentially reduced costs. For the above reasons, there is growing interest in developing pneumatically actuated soft robots combined with multiple other technologies that can release surgeries from existing constraints.
The PALPABLE solution
PALPABLE intends to become a frontrunner in the European healthcare industry by making breakthroughs in photonic, multi-sensing systems and soft robotics devices. The project will focus on developing a palpation finger-like tool with a new instrument that can acquire, process and interpret vast amounts of sensory data, enable new functionalities, and be manufactured sustainably and with reduced cost. This way, the most accurate examination of tissues at different indentation forces becomes plausible through the integration of various technologies; a pneumatically actuated end-effector, a non-planar photonics circuit, a distance sensing module and a surface curvature and stiffness reconstruction algorithm that will render the tactile sensing probe sufficiently sensitive, flexible and small.
PALPABLE can become the perfect robotic ally for the European healthcare sector by…
- ✓ offering surgeons better access to visualising tissues and identifying their properties during minimally invasive surgeries (MIS)
- ✓ ensuring a shorter and improved postoperative period for the patient
- ✓ exploiting the manufacturing method and elements of the probe that can help the project scale up and make leaps into fields like agriculture and the food industry.
Project Plan
