Development of multi-axial force sensing system for haptic feedback enabled minimally invasive robotic surgery

This paper presents a multi-axial force sensing system for haptic feedback of minimally invasive robotic surgery. The system consists of a 3-axial force sensor located on the wrist of surgical grasper and a torque sensor which plays a role of pulley for driving tendons. The 3-axial force sensor measures magnitude and direction of manipulation forces when the grasper grasps and pulls the tissue, while the torque sensor measures grasping force transferred through the driving tendons. The sensors and a grasper mechanism are designed and manufactured. For the calibration and verification of the prototype sensors, a testbed which simulates tissue manipulation is built and experiments are performed to evaluate the sensing system.