Human joint tissue identification by employing diffuse reflectance and auto-fluorescence spectroscopy, in combination with machine learning

Using optical spectroscopy, we are developing a tissue identification technology for a robotic orthopedic surgery system. Biological tissues are heterogeneous structures that interact with light to absorb, reflect, scatter and re-emit. Reflected light can be measured by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and autofluorescence light can be measured by fluorescence excitation spectroscopy [1]. The majority of biological tissues exhibit unique spectral characteristics in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared due to their biochemical and morphological state [2, 3]. Therefore, these sensing techniques have been found to be useful for tissue identification. To our knowledge there has been no published research that has explored these modalities to identify the different human joint tissue.