A portable in-vivo device of friction force and torque measurement for vascular surgery

In-vivo measurement of force signals between surgical tool and human tissues is an important research topic in high-fidelity surgical simulations. In this paper, we introduce a portable device for real-time in-vivo measurement of friction force and torque during vascular surgery operations. To measure multi-region contacts between the guide wire and the vascular wall, two portable sensor modules are mounted on surgeon´s fingertip of thumb and index finger. Based on relative motion between an inner shaft and an outer socket, the sensor module can detect in real-time one-dimensional pushing or retracting resistance force and one-dimensional twisting resistance torque between the guide wire and the vascular wall. The sensor module is based on a modular design of three off-the-shelf one-dimensional force sensors, which provides a flexible solution to realize compact design. Preliminary experiments indicate the sensor modules can provide a portable solution for real-time measuring the force and torque signals during vascular surgery operations.