Force-Torque Sensors for Minimally Invasive Surgery Robotic Tools: An Overview

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical robotics and bionics Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 458 - 471
• Main Authors: Muscolo, Giovanni Gerardo, Fiorini, Paolo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.08.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Force; Force torque sensors; Instruments; Minimally invasive surgery; Multidisciplinary research; Robot sensing systems; Robotic surgery; robotic tools; Robotics; Robots; Sensors; surgeon perception; Surgery; surgical instrument design; Surgical instruments; surgical robotics; Torque sensors (robotics); Visualization
• ISSN: 2576-3202; 2576-3202
• DOI: 10.1109/TMRB.2023.3261102

Robot-assisted surgery is a multidisciplinary research field, which includes many subjects (e.g., medicine and surgery, engineering, mechanics, electronics, computer science, physics, chemical, material science, robotics and many others). Sensors for physical interaction, during robot-assisted surgery, integrate some of these disciplines and are an open challenge. In this survey, we analyse some of the main design solutions of force-torque sensors for surgical instruments with a critical approach, including design and application constraints: robotic surgery environment, surgeon perception, general design architectures of force-torque sensors and force-torque sensors used in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The crucial aspects are analysed in detail, defining technological limitations and future perspectives of sensing instruments in surgical applications.