Evaluation of a laparoscopic grasper with force feedback

The clinical implementation of laparoscopic tools with haptic feedback is far from becoming a reality, partly because current tools with force feedback are not configured like conventional surgical instruments. Hence, our goal was to incorporate force sensing into existing laparoscopic tools for use in robot-assisted surgery. We developed a laparoscopic grasper with force-feedback capability that would help surgeons to differentiate tissue stiffness based on the measured tissue deformation. Surgeons and nonsurgeons alike were able to qualitatively characterize different tissue samples with a high degree of accuracy. The observed force vs deformation characteristic for various tissue samples confirmed the ability of our apparatus to characterize tissues of varying stiffness. This innovative laparoscopic grasper with force-feedback capability enables accurate characterization of tissue deformation and is a promising tool for minimally invasive surgery.