The Planar Force Perception on Robotic Bipolar Forceps

In neurosurgery, bipolar forceps is used to coagulate and dissect brain tissues. As in robot-assisted neurosurgical scenario, force perception on bipolar forceps can quantify intraoperative contacting forces between tips of forceps and brain tissues. The quantified tool-tissue contacting force information can help quantify experts experience and ensure safety of robot-assisted surgery. It is challengeable to facilitate the forceps with forces sensing ability because of the limited space for installing sensors. The craniocerebral tissues, interstitial fluids and currents passing though polar of forceps also bring restrictions on force sensing methods. In this article, we propose a planar force perception method to collect force information on bipolar forceps tips in real-time by installing two Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors (FBGs) perpendicularly on each polar of bipolar forceps. FBGs are free from electromagnetic interference. The slim configuration and silicon materials of FBGs make it a suitable sensing method for little disturbance on working state of bipolar forceps. In experiments, axial forces and planar forces were monitored in real-time. It is possible to sense forces at a minimum of 0.01 N. The calibrating revolution on x, y axis is 0.01, 0.03 N, separately.