Towards Robotised Palpation for Cancer Detection through Online Tissue Viscoelastic Characterisation with a Collaborative Robotic Arm

This paper introduces a new method for online estimating the penetration of the end-effector and the viscoelastic properties of a soft body, through palpation exams using a collaborative robotic arm. The estimator is based on the dimensionality reduction method that simplifies the nonlinear Hunt-Crossley model. In addition, in our algorithm, the model parameters can be found without a force sensor, leveraging only the robotic arm controller data. An extended Kalman filter is employed to achieve online estimation, which embeds the dynamic contact model. The algorithm is tested with various types of silicone, a material that resembles biological tissues, including samples with hard intrusions to simulate cancerous cells within a softer tissue. The results indicate that this technique can accurately determine the model parameters and estimate the penetration of the end-effector into the soft body. These promising preliminary results demonstrate robots’ potential to be an effective tool for early-stage cancer diagnostics.