前立腺触診用柔軟フィンガシステムの開発

-フィンガ部の力学特性評価‐

抄録

Palpation is a diagnosis method that physicians get information about organ by using touch sensation. However, palpation is a subjective method, and accuracy of diagnosis depends on physician's experience and skill. Therefore, in order to make palpation objective and more accurate, a palpation sensor system has been required. In previous study, we proposed an artificial soft finger system to palpate a prostate gland. The artificial finger was composed of a silicone cylinder, wires, and two motors. Two wires are connected with motors through the silicone cylinder. And the artificial finger turns in various directions according to length of wires. And we obtained a relation formula for estimating the fingertip position from the length of wires. In this paper, we proposed an estimation method of hardness by using the artificial finger system. And to realize the method, mechanical characteristics of the finger part was obtained by experiments.