A miniature instrument tip force sensor for robot/human cooperative microsurgical manipulation with enhanced force feedback

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a new miniature force sensor to measure forces at the tip of a microsurgical instrument in three dimensions with sub-millinewton resolution. This sensor will enable enhanced force feedback during surgical intervention in which a user directly manipulates surgical instruments cooperatively with a forcereflecting robot arm. This “steady-hand” scaled force interaction enables a surgeon to sense millinewton forces between the instrument and delicate body tissues during microsurgery which would otherwise be far below the threshold of human tactile sensing. The magnified force feedback can increase the dexterity of the surgeon and improve safety by preventing large damaging forces from being exerted by the instrument. The design and analysis of the new force sensor is presented with preliminary testing and force scaling control results.