Demo abstract: Cyber-physical tactile imaging system for malignant tumor identification

In this paper, we introduce a Cyber-Physical Tactile Imaging System (TIS) for identifying malignant tumors. The sensing is based on the principle of total internal reflection (TIR) of light. CP-TIS will estimate mechanical properties such as size and elasticity of the embedded objects (e.g. tumor). Based on the mechanical properties determined by TIS, it is possible to generate a malignancy score, since studies have shown that malignant tumors tend to be larger and stiffer. Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) is one of the qualitative techniques used by doctors for early detection of breast tumors. However, this method is effective only in detecting lesions, but not in classifying tumor malignancy. Also this is a subjective method where the performance depends on how the doctors perform CBE. Therefore, it is advantageous to quantify the mechanical properties of a tumor for objective tumor identification.