Restoring surgeons’ sense of touch with robotic fingertips

Researchers are developing robotic “fingertips” that could give surgeons back their sense of touch during minimally invasive and robotic operations.

By Anthony King

Modern surgery has gone from long incisions to tiny cuts guided by robots and AI. In the process, however, surgeons have lost something vital: the chance to feel inside the body directly. Without palpation, it becomes harder to detect tissue abnormalities during an operation.

A group of surgeons and engineers...