Foldable Forceps with Tactile Sensor Array for Tissue Identification and Suture Needle Status Detection for Surgical Robot

This paper presents a foldable tactile forceps with sensor array for tissue palpation in minimally invasive surgery. The forceps uses a foldable linkage mechanism with a flexible tactile sensor overlay and contains 4 x 8 tactile sensing units. During surgery, the forceps can be folded to enter the body through a tiny incision and then unfolded. The sensor array is based on single-sided electrode piezoresistive effect, which makes it easy to assemble and can detect the hardness of tissue on a large area. The foldable tactile forceps is functionally verified by simulation. The result shows that the tactile forceps can not only be used as a forceps for suture needle status detection during the suturing operation, but also as a probe for tissue palpation after unfolding, which has a good development prospect in minimally invasive surgery.