In this paper, a master-slave robotic system with force sensing and feedback function is developed to address the critical issue of lacking haptic information in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). A three-dimensional (3D) micro force sensor with high sensitivity and linearity is designed and integrated into the end gripper of the slave manipulator. Consequently, real-time 3D interaction force between the gripper and tissues can be directly detected. The master manipulator is equipped with a specially designed force feedback grasper. During clamping and suturing operations, the operator can perceive the feedback interaction force from the micro sensor in the end gripper, allowing for timely adjustment of clamping force. Experimental results demonstrate that the incorporation of force sensing and feedback control in the master-slave robotic system reduces the maximum clamping force from 1.2 N to 0.8 N, and the average clamping force from 0.8 N to 0.55 N, representing a significant reduction of about 20%-50%. In needle holding and knotting experiments for suturing, the operator can monitor the real-time 3D operating force within 2 N, ensuring the safety of MIS procedures.

In recent years, human‐machine interface technology has entered a period of rapid development in the global scope. It has gradually expanded from the initial field of medical rehabilitation to engineering bionics, virtual reality, space technology, deep‐sea assignments, atomic energy technology, remote education, and other areas. Herein, an innovative, self‐powered delta‐parallel human‐machine interface (DT‐HMI) for 3D sensing and control is proposed. By using three pairs of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) sensing gears based on both contact‐separation and sliding modes of triboelectric effect, the positive and negative rotation of the gears and rotation angles can be obtained. According to the forward‐and‐inverse kinematics of parallel robots, the spatial position and motion attitude of the platform can be calculated. The three pairs of TENG sensing gears with six electrodes define the 512 virtual sensing pixels. The low‐cost, simple‐designed DT‐HMI controller can achieve remote control and even spatial position mapping. Accordingly, the combination of output signals enables the realization of a highly scalable and self‐powered triboelectric interface toward a variety of application scenarios, including 2/3D control, VR/AR, interaction, robotics, etc.

波浪能是世界上分布最广泛的可再生能源之一。海洋环境中波浪运动随机复杂且频率极低,这为海洋波浪能的高效收集利用提出挑战。设计了一种混沌平面摆式波浪能收集装置,其中混沌平面摆作为超低频随机波浪俘能机构,配合齿轮增速传递机构与电磁旋转机构实现波浪能收集装置的高功率输出。为更好响应浮标在海洋中的运动激励,对俘能机构进行动力学分析建模与优化。针对装置输出电压无规律且低频交流的特性,设计功率采样跟踪升压存储的电源管理电路。通过实验室测试与实际近海测试,装置能够对复杂波浪产生最大10 V的开路电压,最大输出功率约205 mW。海试中,4小时可将200 mAh锂电池电压由3.12 V充电至3.6 V,能够作为新能源海洋浮标低功耗传感器的可持续电源。

A delta-parallel-inspired human machine interface (DT-HMI) towards 3D and VR/AR manipulation is proposed by Huicong Liu, Tao Chen, Lining Sun, and co-workers (article number 2000912). By using three pairs of self-powered sensing gears based on triboelectric effect, the three pairs of sensing gears with six electrodes define the 512 virtual-sensing pixels. The low-cost, simple-designed DT-HMI controller can achieve remote control and spatial position mapping.

Soft robots have significant advantages in terms of flexibility and adaptability, leading to potential applications in the bionics field. Inspired by the caterpillars in nature, this work proposed a soft caterpillar robot (SCR) by integrating two types of ultra-stretchable bionic sensors on a dual air-chamber pneumatic network structure. In order to realize self-powered tactile sensing, four triboelectric nanogenerator tactile sensors (TTSs) based on functional liquid metal (FLM) with thorny-structured bionic whiskers are developed and attached on the SCR. Meanwhile, two ultra-stretchable resistive strain sensors (RSSs) by using FLM are covered as the bionic skin to sense self-body deformation of the SCR. The TTS has a fast response time of 0.03 s and a minimum perception of 0.05 kPa, which can be very sensitive to the unknown stimulus of various materials. The RSS with a relatively high sensitivity of 2.94 and small hysteresis of 1.42% possess the ultra-stretchable ability of 180% strain, which helps to adapt and adjust its own body bending and crawling. The biological perception capabilities of the SCR play a crucial role in mimicking bionic actions and response in an unknown environment, such as escaping from unexpected attacks as well as adaptive crawling through an unknown tunnel environment.

This paper reports a sensorized forcep with a minimized force sensing chip to facilitate Robotic-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (RMIS). A piezoresistive triaxial force sensor chip (2 mm x 2 mm) is developed and integrated in the grasping head of a continuum robot to provide additional tactile to the RMIS. Biocompatible hemisphere cap enhances the sensor's capability of triaxial force detection. A 3-dimensioanl (3D) force test is performed on the sensorized forcep. This simple strategy of configuration and sensing makes it possible in miniaturization of the forceps (outside diameter is less than 4 mm) for RMIS in the strictest operating space.

Throat cancer treatment involves surgical removal of the tumor, leaving patients with facial disfigurement as well as temporary or permanent loss of voice. Surface electromyography (sEMG) generated from the jaw contains lots of voice information. However, it is difficult to record because of not only the weakness of the signals but also the steep skin curvature. This paper demonstrates the design of an imperceptible, flexible epidermal sEMG tattoo-like patch with the thickness of less than 10 μm and peeling strength of larger than 1 N cm −1 that exhibits large adhesiveness to complex biological surfaces and is thus capable of sEMG recording for silent speech recognition. When a tester speaks silently, the patch shows excellent performance in recording the sEMG signals from three muscle channels and recognizing those frequently used instructions with high accuracy by using the wavelet decomposition and pattern recognization. The average accuracy of action instructions can reach up to 89.04%, and the average accuracy of emotion instructions is as high as 92.33%. To demonstrate the functionality of tattoo-like patches as a new human–machine interface (HMI) for patients with loss of voice, the intelligent silent speech recognition, voice synthesis, and virtual interaction have been implemented, which are of great importance in helping these patients communicate with people and make life more enjoyable.

Flexible electronic devices are developing rapidly, especially in medical applications. This paper reports an arrayed flexible piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (FPMUT) with a sandwich structure for adjuvant treatment of bone injury. To make the device conformable and stretchable for attaching to the skin surface, the flexible substrate of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was combined with the flexible metal line interconnection between the bulk lead zirconate titanate (PZT) arrays. Simulations and experiments were carried out to verify the resonant frequency and tensile property of the reported FPMUT device. The device had a resonant frequency of 321.15 KHz and a maximum sound pressure level (SPL) of 180.19 dB at the distance of 5 cm in water. In addition, detailed experiments were carried out to test its acoustic performance with different pork tissues, and the results indicated good ultrasound penetration. These findings confirm that the FPMUT shows unique advantages for adjuvant treatment of bone injury.