FBG-based force-sensing gripper in minimally invasive robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery

Robot-assisted surgery (RAS) has emerged as a groundbreaking technique retaining much of the functionality of traditional open surgery in terms of visibility, flexibility and precision, whilst the minimally invasive incision adds benefits in healing time and reduced risk of complications. Force feedback plays a crucial role in ensuring surgical safety and effectiveness, as excessive or inappropriate forces can result in unwanted tissue damage, bleeding and/or poor outcome. In the work reported here, we embedded fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors along the length of a standard minimally invasive surgical gripper jaw to measure the strain resulting from a clamping force applied at the tip of the jaw. We have found that the FBG has sufficient sensitivity to monitor surgically relevant forces without excessive deformation. Future work will explore multi-axis strain measurements to monitor different types of force experienced by the gripper.