Measuring grasping and cutting forces for reality-based haptic modeling

The modeling of grasping and cutting in surgery are two fundamental tasks that must be achieved for the development of a reality-based haptic interface in robot-assisted surgery. Currently, the lack of these models with soft tissue has limited the accuracy of such interfaces in surgery. As a result, we have taken the first steps in realizing soft tissue models through the development of an automated laparoscopic grasper and tissue cutting equipment to characterize grasping and cutting tasks in minimally invasive surgery. The grasper is capable of generating force feedback that can be felt through a haptic interface device thereby allowing a user to feel the stiffness of the tissue that is being grasped. The cutting equipment employs a surgical scalpel attached to a six-axis force/torque sensor to measure the forces during cutting. The scalpel follows a linear motion created by a DC motor and leadscrew assembly.