Smart laparoscopic grasper integrated with fiber Bragg grating based tactile sensor for real-time force feedback

Minimally invasive surgery, such as laparoscopic surgery, has developed rapidly due to its small wound, less bleeding and quick recovery. However, a lack of force feedback, which leads to tissue damage, is still unsolved. Many sensors have been used to offer force feedback but still limited by their large size, low security and high complexity. Based on the advantages of small size, high sensitivity and immunity to electromagnetic interferences, we propose a tactile sensor integrated with fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) at the tip of laparoscopic grasper to offer real-time force feedback in the laparoscopic surgery. The tactile sensor shows a force sensitivity of 0.076 nm/N with a repeatable accuracy of 0.118 N. A bench test is conducted in a laparoscopic training box to verify its feasibility. Test results illustrate that gripping force exerted on the laparoscopic grasper in terms of peak and standard deviation values reduce significantly for the novice subjects with force feedback compared to those without force feedback. The proposed sensor integrated at the tip of the laparoscopic grasper demonstrates a better control of the gripping force among the novice surgeons and indicates that the smart grasper can help surgeons achieve precise gripping force to reduce unnecessary tissue trauma.