New vibrations in old tools allow surgeons to feel what they can’t touch

A small vibrating device added to surgical tools could improve surgeons’ sensitivity to different shapes and textures inside their patients’ bodies. Engineers have designed the small vibrating device to attach to any existing hand-held surgical tool and be used instantly, without requiring extra training for doctors.

Yuichi Kurita, Yamato Sueda, Takaaki Ishikawa, Minoru Hattori, Hiroyuki Sawada, Hiroyuki Egi, Hideki Ohdan, Jun Ueda, Toshio Tsuji. Surgical Grasping Forceps with Enhanced Sensorimotor Capability via the Stochastic Resonance Effect. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2016; 1 DOI: 10.1109/TMECH.2016.2591591