A sensorized surgical needle with miniaturized MEMS tri-axial force sensor for robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery

This paper presents the integration of miniaturized MEMS tri-axial tactile sensor with surgical needle for robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS). In MIS, surgeons rely highly on the tactile feedback from the tip of the needle. Sensorized surgical needle will be able to provide quantitative tactile feedback to increase accuracy and reduce risk of over-cutting. The sensorized surgical needle could also be integrated with actuator system for robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery.