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About

Joonah Park is a pioneering researcher in haptic feedback systems for robot-assisted surgery, with a focused expertise in restoring the sense of touch to teleoperated surgical procedures. Her major contributions center on developing integrated tactile and kinesthetic feedback mechanisms that address a critical limitation of conventional surgical robots: the absence of haptic information for surgeons. Park's most influential work, "Role of combined tactile and kinesthetic feedback in minimally invasive surgery" (66 citations), established the foundational framework for multi-modal haptic systems. She further advanced the field through innovative sensor integration, as demonstrated in her highly cited paper on grip force measurement using fiber Bragg grating sensors (57 citations). Park's technical achievements include the development of three-axis tactile displays using PDMS pneumatic actuators, capable of generating both normal and shear forces to the fingertip—a significant advancement for realistic force feedback during teleoperation. Her work on microfabrication of tactile feedback actuators represents a crucial step toward miniaturization and clinical integration. With a cumulative citation count exceeding 140, Park's research has been instrumental in bridging the gap between robotic surgical systems and the essential haptic feedback that surgeons require for precise, safe procedures.