Organic actuators as a tool for understanding the tactile sense: toward virtual medical touch

Rachel Blau ¹ Alexander X. Chen ¹ Beril Polat ¹ Laura L. Beccera ¹ Rory Runser ¹ Yi Qie ¹ Abdulhameed Abdal ¹ Allison Lim ¹ Beeta Zamanimeymian ¹ Kartik Choudhary ¹ Samantha Russman ² Ritwik Vatsyayan ² Tarek Rafeedi ¹ Sarah Brew ¹ Shadi Dayeh ² Darren Lipomi ¹

¹Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, USA
²Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, USA

Biomedical technologies have developed tremendously with visual, audio and sensing capabilities. However, current missing ingredient for next-generation technologies for diagnosis and treatment is the implementation of technologies that produce tactile feedback to deliver information through the experience of touch, i.e., haptics. Touch and palpation are critical for a range of clinical diagnostic and surgical procedures. For example, the use of tactile feedback in virtual or minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery may accelerate medical training and ultimately lead to superior patient outcomes. In order to enable a future where haptics are used in biomedical devices, there is a need to answer fundamental questions arising from the sense of touch perception of humans, sensory inputs, neuronal activity, as well as to develop novel and smart materials that can transmit realistic tactile cues to the user.

In this work, I adopt a new experimental paradigm based on organic materials (e.g., conductive polymers) as wearable and implantable haptic actuators capable of producing realistic tactile cues upon stimuli. This work establishes the design principles of organic actuators that may revolutionize technologies for human/brain-machine interfaces, remote care and diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery, neurodegenerative diseases, and wearable and implantable devices for amputees or physical and cognitive therapy.