MEMS Tactile Sensors for Surgical Instruments

The development of sophisticated endoscopic tools and the recent introduction of robotics are expanding the applications of minimally invasive surgery. The lack of tactile feedback in the currently available endoscopic and robotic telemanipulation systems however represents a significant limitation. A need has arisen for the development of surgical instruments having integrated sensors. Current efforts to integrate sensors into or onto surgical tools has focused on fabrication of sensors on silicon, polyimide, or some other substrate and then attaching the sensors to a tool by hand or machine with epoxy, tape, or some other glue layer. Attaching the sensor in this manner has certain deficiencies. In particular, this method of attaching sensors to a surgical tool limits the sensors size, increases its thickness, and further constrains where the sensor can be placed. A method of fabricating tactile sensors on surgical instruments that addresses these deficiencies is discussed.