Current Uses in Robotic Surgeries
Although surgical simulation trainers are full of haptic feedback examples, there are no robotic systems with haptic feedback being used in the operating room today. The space constraints and multiaxis force sensors have prevented haptics from being implemented. Haptics in surgical simulators have to relay tactile information about a virtual world. Haptics in robotic surgical systems, on the other hand, have to relay tactile information about the real world and this is what is currently preventing its implementation.
The multiaxis force sensors needed for haptics are currently too large to be put into the instruments used in robotic surgeries. Without these sensors,the forces are unknown and haptic feedback is impossible. These sensors are not needed in surgical trainers because they work in a virtual world where all the forces are know by the computer. Once the forces on the robotic surgical instruments are known, there is very little preventing haptic feedback from being added to robotic surgical systems.
One example of an attempt to put haptics into robotic surgeries is the Robot Assisted Microsurgery System (RAMS) which was developed by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Its purpose was to develop a system to perform precise motions for increased precision in surgery. It operated on a master-slave control scheme and provided haptic feedback to the user. Feasibility studies on rats have been performed with RAMS, but it is not used clinically.
 RAMS haptic surgical robot develop by USASA
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