15th Triennial World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control
  Barcelona, 21–26 July 2002 
A BONE REAMING SYSTEM WITH TACTILE TEMPERATURE DISPLAY
Raymond H.W. Lam1, Imad Elhajj2, Wen J. Li1,* and Li Ning Xi2
1 Dept. of Automation and Computer-Aided Eng. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2 Dept. of Electrical and Computer Eng., Michigan State University, USA
* Contact Author: The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Department of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering, MMW 422, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong.
Email:wen@acae.cuhk.edu.hk

A bone reaming system with temperature tactile sensation display was developed for potential usage during bone internal fixation surgery. The developed reaming system will allow tracking of the amount of heat generated inside fractured bones throughout the reaming process. It consists of a temperature sensing system to measure the bone cavity temperature, a rotor system to provide the rotational motion to the system, which emulates the rotational motion during a surgical procedure, and an RF receiver for receiving the wireless signal representing the measured temperature. The performance of the temperature sensing system was analyzed, including temperature signal linearity and wireless temperature signal transmission. Experiments were also conducted to play the temperature data from the sensing system over the Internet and allow a remote operator to feel the temperature sensation. By using the new reaming system, the amount of heat generation can be controlled through feedback-control by a surgeon, and the potential risks of bone internal fixation surgery can be reduced significantly.
Keywords: bone reaming system, internal fixation, tactile temperature sensation, thermoelectric device, medical systems, temperature control
Session slot T-Th-A18: Advanced Robotics/Area code 1d : Robotics