Instrumentation of Surgical Tools To Measure Load and Position During Incision, Tissue Retraction, and Suturing

The characterization of soft tissue interaction with surgical tools is critical for authentic surgical simulations and accurate robotic-assisted surgery. Virtual and augmented reality are often used to simulate surgical procedures with haptic feedback to increase the sense of reality. Haptic simulations require models with parameters based on real tissue data. The accuracy of haptic feedback can be increased when the mechanics of the interaction between tool and tissue is better understood. Several foundational surgical tools were instrumented to acquire such data for a variety of applications. Presented here are a set of modular tools and software built to expand the scope of surgical procedures for which comprehensive training data for surgical simulators are desired. In a demonstration, the system measured loads in 6 degrees-of-freedom and position and orientation in relation to a cadaver leg. Additionally, the tools were designed with modularity to accommodate adaptation for additional tools not used in this study.