Vibrational Feedback for a Teleoperated Continuum Robot with Non-contact Endoscope Localization

Limited or absent haptic feedback is reported as
a factor hindering the continued adoption of surgical robots.
This article presents a proof of concept for vibrotactile feed-
back integrated into a continuum robot to explore whether
such feedback improves spatial perception in surgical set-
tings. The robot is equipped with a capacitive sensor for non-
contact endoscope localization, enabling spatial awareness of
the robot’s tool center point (TCP) within the surgical environ-
ment. The data from the sensor is processed and transmitted to
a bracelet worn by the user, which generates vibrotactile feed-
back. The bracelet contains four vibration motors providing
tactile cues for navigation and positioning of the robot’s TCP.
All subsystems are integrated into a unified system to deliver
vibrotactile feedback to the user. When the user maneuvers the
TCP of the robot near an object, they receive vibrotactile feed-
back via the bracelet. Thereby, the intensity of vibration in-
creases as the TCP approaches the object, and the direction of
the obstacle is mapped on the bracelet. Initial functional tests
were performed and prove the functionality of the proposed
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system.