Robots are now widely used in surgical procedures, but they are still not autonomous. Human surgeons must operate these robots, and humans can do a better job operating robots if they get a sense of touch feedback, says robotics researcher Allison Okamura. At TEDxStanford, she explains how engineers are developing ways for surgeons to feel what a robot is doing, technology that will greatly improve dexterity and accuracy in surgery, and has wide implications for all robotics. .
Professor Allison Okamura and her students study applications of haptic (sense of touch) technology in robot-assisted surgery, prosthetics, rehabilitation, simulation and training, space tele-operation and education. She is committed to sharing her passion for research and discovery, using robotics and haptics through outreach programs to groups underrepresented in engineering. Okamura is an associate professor in the mechanical
engineering department at Stanford University and director of the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine Laboratory. Before joining the faculty at Stanford, she was a professor at Johns Hopkins University.