Performance Evaluation of a Sensorized Arthroscopic Grasper

Force sensing minimally invasive instruments have gained increasing attention in recent years. Integrating these instruments within currently available surgical simulators can enhance the learning experience by measuring the forces applied by trainees and supplementing objective performance assessment. Recently, an arthroscopic grasper was designed and sensorized with Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors at Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR). Moreover, a custom low-cost (LC) interrogation system was developed to accompany the proposed sensorized tool. In this study, the custom LC interrogator was used and compared to the commercially-available Micron Optics sm130 (MO) interrogator. The hypothesis is that both of these systems can be used to measure forces within ±0.5 N as the acceptable margin for accuracy. Experimental results showed that the MO system meets the required accuracy for certain force directions. The LC system demonstrated 49% of the accuracy of the MO interrogator. The main advantage of the LC interrogator is its cost, which is 18% of the commercial interrogation system. For certain force directions, the performance was comparable to the defined criteria.