Christopher Wottawa
Samueli Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Medical Center
Papers
7
Total Citations
182
H-Index
5
About
Christopher Wottawa is a biomedical engineer whose research centers on restoring the sense of touch in minimally invasive and robotic surgery. His major contributions lie in the development and integration of tactile feedback systems for surgical robots, particularly the da Vinci system. He pioneered the use of silicone-based pneumatic balloon actuators and piezoelectric force sensors to create tactile displays that convey force information to the surgeon’s fingertips. His most cited work, “Evaluating tactile feedback in robotic surgery for potential clinical application using an animal model” (120 citations), demonstrated the feasibility and clinical promise of this technology in a realistic surgical setting. Wottawa also developed a complete glove-based master-slave tactile feedback system and a thin-film capacitive force sensor array, advancing the hardware needed for practical tactile sensing. His research has been instrumental in addressing a critical limitation of robotic surgery—the loss of tactile information—and has laid the groundwork for future haptic interfaces in medicine. With a focused body of work spanning sensor fabrication, system integration, and in vivo evaluation, Wottawa has made a lasting impact on the field of surgical robotics and haptics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3Remote tactile sensing glove-based system17 citations · 2010
- 4Tactile Feedback in Surgical Robotics9 citations · 2010
- 5
- 6Applications of Tactile Feedback in Medicine4 citations · 2011
- 7