The Experts below are selected from a list of 2253 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Toshio Tsuji - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Surgical Grasping Forceps with Enhanced Sensorimotor Capability via the Stochastic Resonance Effect
IEEE ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2016Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Yamato Sueda, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Takaaki Ishikawa, Toshio TsujiAbstract:© 1996-2012 IEEE.Haptic information is crucial in the execution of precise dexterous manipulations. Laparoscopic surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery, requires that the surgeon senses force information about tissue through Forceps, because he or she cannot touch the organs directly. We propose the concept of surgical Grasping Forceps with enhanced sensorimotor capability based on attaching a vibrator to the Forceps' grip by evoking a stochastic resonance (SR) effect. To apply appropriate vibrations, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons was built to investigate the system's response when white noise was applied to each of the four types of tactile receptor. The relation among the tactile sensitivity, noise intensity, and amplitude of input signal is discussed by the simulation with the neural network composed of different tactile receptors. The simulation results revealed that the working range of the SR effect is extended by taking advantage of having multiple receptors with different characteristics in skins. It was also found that improved tactile sensitivity could be obtained even without a strict set of vibration intensity values. Based on the findings from the simulation, we developed surgical Forceps with sensorimotor-enhancing capability taking advantage of the SR effect. The Forceps are equipped with a lead zirconate titanate actuator at the grip as a vibration source. We conducted touch testing, texture discrimination testing, and tumor detection testing to verify their improved tactile sensitivity. The experiments conducted with the proposed Forceps showed that maintaining the noise intensity within the optimal range could improve tactile sensitivity, and confirmed the usefulness of the SR application for medical devices.
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Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
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Force-based automatic classification of basic manipulations with Grasping Forceps
International Journal of Life Science and Medical Research, 2013Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Toshio Tsuji, Tomohiro Kawahara, Masazumi Okajima, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Tsukasa OgasawaraAbstract:Haptic information is crucial for the execution of precise and dexterous manipulations. During minimally invasive surgery, doctors are required to indirectly sense force-related information from body organs and tissues via a surgical instrument because they cannot directly touch the tissue. Against such a background, skill evaluation based on force measurement is useful for judging whether a person has adequate manipulation skills. This paper addresses the challenge of automatically classifying basic manipulations performed with surgical Grasping Forceps. First, manipulations performed with Forceps during laparoscopic surgery were categorized into four basic types from video observation. Grasping Forceps with force-sensing capability were developed to support identification of these types, which were automatically classified by monitoring information on the force applied to the Forceps. An experiment to investigate the efficacy of the proposed method produced manipulation logs showing that doctors are capable of conducting tasks with less force than novices. It was also confirmed that the prototype Forceps are suitable for practical use in animal experiments.
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EMBC - Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Inte, 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
Yuichi Kurita - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Surgical Grasping Forceps with Enhanced Sensorimotor Capability via the Stochastic Resonance Effect
IEEE ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2016Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Yamato Sueda, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Takaaki Ishikawa, Toshio TsujiAbstract:© 1996-2012 IEEE.Haptic information is crucial in the execution of precise dexterous manipulations. Laparoscopic surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery, requires that the surgeon senses force information about tissue through Forceps, because he or she cannot touch the organs directly. We propose the concept of surgical Grasping Forceps with enhanced sensorimotor capability based on attaching a vibrator to the Forceps' grip by evoking a stochastic resonance (SR) effect. To apply appropriate vibrations, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons was built to investigate the system's response when white noise was applied to each of the four types of tactile receptor. The relation among the tactile sensitivity, noise intensity, and amplitude of input signal is discussed by the simulation with the neural network composed of different tactile receptors. The simulation results revealed that the working range of the SR effect is extended by taking advantage of having multiple receptors with different characteristics in skins. It was also found that improved tactile sensitivity could be obtained even without a strict set of vibration intensity values. Based on the findings from the simulation, we developed surgical Forceps with sensorimotor-enhancing capability taking advantage of the SR effect. The Forceps are equipped with a lead zirconate titanate actuator at the grip as a vibration source. We conducted touch testing, texture discrimination testing, and tumor detection testing to verify their improved tactile sensitivity. The experiments conducted with the proposed Forceps showed that maintaining the noise intensity within the optimal range could improve tactile sensitivity, and confirmed the usefulness of the SR application for medical devices.
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Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
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Force-based automatic classification of basic manipulations with Grasping Forceps
International Journal of Life Science and Medical Research, 2013Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Toshio Tsuji, Tomohiro Kawahara, Masazumi Okajima, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Tsukasa OgasawaraAbstract:Haptic information is crucial for the execution of precise and dexterous manipulations. During minimally invasive surgery, doctors are required to indirectly sense force-related information from body organs and tissues via a surgical instrument because they cannot directly touch the tissue. Against such a background, skill evaluation based on force measurement is useful for judging whether a person has adequate manipulation skills. This paper addresses the challenge of automatically classifying basic manipulations performed with surgical Grasping Forceps. First, manipulations performed with Forceps during laparoscopic surgery were categorized into four basic types from video observation. Grasping Forceps with force-sensing capability were developed to support identification of these types, which were automatically classified by monitoring information on the force applied to the Forceps. An experiment to investigate the efficacy of the proposed method produced manipulation logs showing that doctors are capable of conducting tasks with less force than novices. It was also confirmed that the prototype Forceps are suitable for practical use in animal experiments.
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EMBC - Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Inte, 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
Takeyoshi Dohi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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MEMS 6-axis force-torque sensor attached to the tip of Grasping Forceps for identification of tumor in thoracoscopic surgery
2017 IEEE 30th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2017Co-Authors: Akihito Nakai, Kai Saito, Ami Kumagai, Kenta Kuwana, Takeyoshi Dohi, Itaru ShimoyamaAbstract:We developed a MEMS 6-axis force-torque sensor attached to the tip of Grasping Forceps for identification of tumor in thoracoscopic surgery. To validate the Grasping Forceps with sensors, the gelatin in which a silicone sphere was embedded was grasped with it and the variations in 3-axis force and 3-axis torque depending on Grasping positions were measured. The size of the embedded hard object in a soft material was derived from acquired data of compression forces. It was also indicated that we can get the direction of the object from 2-axis torques.
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A Grasping Forceps with a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor for quantification of stresses on organs
Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society EMBS, 2013Co-Authors: Kenta Kuwana, Akihito Nakai, Ken Masamune, Takeyoshi DohiAbstract:This paper reports on a Grasping Forceps with a triaxial Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) tactile sensor on a tip. The laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive because the incisions are smaller than the open surgery. This results in fast recovery. However, it is a problem in the laparoscopic surgery to damage an organ by localized stress generated by Grasping with a thin Forceps. To avoid excessive stress applying to the organ, real time evaluation of the stress is important. However, there is no acceptable tool to measure the stress. We propose a Grasping Forceps with a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor on a tip for a measurement tool. We attached a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor which we have developed on a tip of a Grasping Forceps. The MEMS sensor can measure not only the pressure but also two directional shear stresses applied to the sensor surface. The sensor size is 7 mm × 7 mm × 2 mm. It is enough small to attach the sensor to the tip of a Forceps 12 mm in diameter. In this paper, the characteristics of the Forceps with the MEMS sensor during Grasping, pushing and pulling actions were evaluated. In these experiments, output of each sensor for pressure and shear stress was proportional to the applied stresses, respectively. Moreover, as an in vivo experiment, we measured the shear stress applied to a pig liver block when it is lifted after being grasped with the Forceps. We obtained that the shear stress applied to the liver block increased with the increase of the weight of the liver block.
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EMBC - A Grasping Forceps with a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor for quantification of stresses on organs
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Inte, 2013Co-Authors: Kenta Kuwana, Akihito Nakai, Ken Masamune, Takeyoshi DohiAbstract:This paper reports on a Grasping Forceps with a triaxial Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) tactile sensor on a tip. The laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive because the incisions are smaller than the open surgery. This results in fast recovery. However, it is a problem in the laparoscopic surgery to damage an organ by localized stress generated by Grasping with a thin Forceps. To avoid excessive stress applying to the organ, real time evaluation of the stress is important. However, there is no acceptable tool to measure the stress. We propose a Grasping Forceps with a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor on a tip for a measurement tool. We attached a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor which we have developed on a tip of a Grasping Forceps. The MEMS sensor can measure not only the pressure but also two directional shear stresses applied to the sensor surface. The sensor size is 7 mm × 7 mm × 2 mm. It is enough small to attach the sensor to the tip of a Forceps 12 mm in diameter. In this paper, the characteristics of the Forceps with the MEMS sensor during Grasping, pushing and pulling actions were evaluated. In these experiments, output of each sensor for pressure and shear stress was proportional to the applied stresses, respectively. Moreover, as an in vivo experiment, we measured the shear stress applied to a pig liver block when it is lifted after being grasped with the Forceps. We obtained that the shear stress applied to the liver block increased with the increase of the weight of the liver block.
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micro Grasping Forceps manipulator for mr guided neurosurgery
Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, 2002Co-Authors: Nobuhiko Miyata, Ken Masamune, Takeyoshi Dohi, Etsuko Kobayashi, Daeyoung Kim, Ichiro Sakuma, Naoki Yahagi, Takayuki Tsuji, Hiroshi Inada, Hiroshi IsekiAbstract:Mechanical support system is needed for minimally invasive surgery, since it enables precise manipulation of surgical instruments beyond human ability in a small operation space. Furthermore, a robot available for intraoperative MRI guided neurosurgical procedures could allow less invasive and more accurate image guided surgery. By combination of precise positioning to the target by intra-operative MRI guided surgery and dexterity by the multi function micromanipulator, safe and smooth operation is expected to be performed. In this approach, we have developed MR-compatible micro-Forceps manipulator of the multi-function micromanipulator system for neurosurgery. By a new cam mechanism for two degrees of bending freedom, we achieved these excellent characteristics for the micro Forceps. 1) Simple mechanism suitable for a micromanipulator, 2) Precise positioning, 3) Suitable mechanism for MR compatible manipulator. By evaluation experiments, we confirmed precise positioning of the manipulator and MR compatibility of the manipulator.
Hideki Ohdan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Surgical Grasping Forceps with Enhanced Sensorimotor Capability via the Stochastic Resonance Effect
IEEE ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2016Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Yamato Sueda, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Takaaki Ishikawa, Toshio TsujiAbstract:© 1996-2012 IEEE.Haptic information is crucial in the execution of precise dexterous manipulations. Laparoscopic surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery, requires that the surgeon senses force information about tissue through Forceps, because he or she cannot touch the organs directly. We propose the concept of surgical Grasping Forceps with enhanced sensorimotor capability based on attaching a vibrator to the Forceps' grip by evoking a stochastic resonance (SR) effect. To apply appropriate vibrations, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons was built to investigate the system's response when white noise was applied to each of the four types of tactile receptor. The relation among the tactile sensitivity, noise intensity, and amplitude of input signal is discussed by the simulation with the neural network composed of different tactile receptors. The simulation results revealed that the working range of the SR effect is extended by taking advantage of having multiple receptors with different characteristics in skins. It was also found that improved tactile sensitivity could be obtained even without a strict set of vibration intensity values. Based on the findings from the simulation, we developed surgical Forceps with sensorimotor-enhancing capability taking advantage of the SR effect. The Forceps are equipped with a lead zirconate titanate actuator at the grip as a vibration source. We conducted touch testing, texture discrimination testing, and tumor detection testing to verify their improved tactile sensitivity. The experiments conducted with the proposed Forceps showed that maintaining the noise intensity within the optimal range could improve tactile sensitivity, and confirmed the usefulness of the SR application for medical devices.
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Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
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Force-based automatic classification of basic manipulations with Grasping Forceps
International Journal of Life Science and Medical Research, 2013Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Toshio Tsuji, Tomohiro Kawahara, Masazumi Okajima, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Tsukasa OgasawaraAbstract:Haptic information is crucial for the execution of precise and dexterous manipulations. During minimally invasive surgery, doctors are required to indirectly sense force-related information from body organs and tissues via a surgical instrument because they cannot directly touch the tissue. Against such a background, skill evaluation based on force measurement is useful for judging whether a person has adequate manipulation skills. This paper addresses the challenge of automatically classifying basic manipulations performed with surgical Grasping Forceps. First, manipulations performed with Forceps during laparoscopic surgery were categorized into four basic types from video observation. Grasping Forceps with force-sensing capability were developed to support identification of these types, which were automatically classified by monitoring information on the force applied to the Forceps. An experiment to investigate the efficacy of the proposed method produced manipulation logs showing that doctors are capable of conducting tasks with less force than novices. It was also confirmed that the prototype Forceps are suitable for practical use in animal experiments.
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EMBC - Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Inte, 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
Yamato Sueda - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Surgical Grasping Forceps with Enhanced Sensorimotor Capability via the Stochastic Resonance Effect
IEEE ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2016Co-Authors: Yuichi Kurita, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Yamato Sueda, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Takaaki Ishikawa, Toshio TsujiAbstract:© 1996-2012 IEEE.Haptic information is crucial in the execution of precise dexterous manipulations. Laparoscopic surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery, requires that the surgeon senses force information about tissue through Forceps, because he or she cannot touch the organs directly. We propose the concept of surgical Grasping Forceps with enhanced sensorimotor capability based on attaching a vibrator to the Forceps' grip by evoking a stochastic resonance (SR) effect. To apply appropriate vibrations, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons was built to investigate the system's response when white noise was applied to each of the four types of tactile receptor. The relation among the tactile sensitivity, noise intensity, and amplitude of input signal is discussed by the simulation with the neural network composed of different tactile receptors. The simulation results revealed that the working range of the SR effect is extended by taking advantage of having multiple receptors with different characteristics in skins. It was also found that improved tactile sensitivity could be obtained even without a strict set of vibration intensity values. Based on the findings from the simulation, we developed surgical Forceps with sensorimotor-enhancing capability taking advantage of the SR effect. The Forceps are equipped with a lead zirconate titanate actuator at the grip as a vibration source. We conducted touch testing, texture discrimination testing, and tumor detection testing to verify their improved tactile sensitivity. The experiments conducted with the proposed Forceps showed that maintaining the noise intensity within the optimal range could improve tactile sensitivity, and confirmed the usefulness of the SR application for medical devices.
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Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
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EMBC - Improvement of tactile sensitivity by stochastic resonance effect - Applications to surgical Grasping Forceps
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Inte, 2013Co-Authors: Yamato Sueda, Toshio Tsuji, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Jun Ueda, Yuichi KuritaAbstract:This paper reports experimental results on a surgical Grasping Forceps with a vibration actuator that enhances a tactile perception ability. A short-time exposure of tactile receptors to sub-sensory white-noise vibration is known to improve perception ability. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance (SR) in the somatosensory system, is expected to enhance the sense of touch when the weak vibration is applied to a fingertip, and thereby improve associated motor skills. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was attached on the grip of surgical Grasping Forceps. A passive sensory test has been conducted for healthy subjects to confirm the efficacy of the device. Statistical significance has been observed when appropriate noise is applied. To investigate the effect of the noise intensity, a summing network of FitzHugh-Nagumo model neurons was built. The simulation results showed that a network with relatively large units can improve the detection capability of the input signal.
