The tactile properties of tissue, such as elasticity and stiffness, often play an important role in surgical oncology when identifying tumors and pathological tissue boundaries. Though extremely valuable, robot-assisted surgery comes at the cost of reduced sensory information to the surgeon; typically, only vision is available. Sensors proposed to overcome this sensory desert are often bulky, complex, and incompatible with the surgical workflow. We present PalpAid, a multimodal pneumatic tactile sensor equipped with a microphone and pressure sensor, converting contact force into an internal pressure differential. The pressure sensor acts as an event detector, while the auditory signature captured by the microphone assists in tissue delineation. We show the design, fabrication, and assembly of sensory units with characterization tests to show robustness to use, inflation-deflation cycles, and integration with a robotic system. Finally, we show the sensor's ability to classify 3D-printed hard objects with varying infills and soft ex vivo tissues. Overall, PalpAid aims to fill the sensory gap intelligently and allow improved clinical decision-making.

翻译：组织的触觉特性（如弹性和硬度）在外科肿瘤学中识别肿瘤与病理组织边界时通常起着重要作用。尽管机器人辅助手术极具价值，但其代价是外科医生可获取的感官信息减少；通常仅能依赖视觉。为克服这一感官信息匮乏而提出的传感器往往体积庞大、结构复杂，且与手术流程不兼容。本文提出PalpAid——一种配备麦克风与压力传感器的多模态气动触觉传感器，可将接触力转换为内部压差。压力传感器充当事件检测器，而麦克风捕获的听觉特征则协助组织边界划分。我们展示了传感单元的设计、制造与组装过程，并通过特性测试验证了其使用鲁棒性、充放气循环稳定性以及与机器人系统的集成能力。最后，我们演示了该传感器对具有不同填充密度的3D打印硬质物体及离体软组织的分类能力。总体而言，PalpAid旨在以智能化方式填补感官信息缺口，从而提升临床决策水平。