Force Sensing in Robot-assisted Keyhole Endoscopy: A Systematic Survey
This is an incremental survey that synthesizes existing research to aid in developing better force sensing for minimally invasive surgery, benefiting surgeons and patients.
The paper systematically reviews force sensing research for robot-assisted keyhole endoscopy from 2011 to 2020, covering 110 papers on algorithms, sensor designs, and fabrication techniques to address the loss of haptic feedback in surgery.
Instrument-tissue interaction forces in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) provide valuable information that can be used to provide haptic perception, monitor tissue trauma, develop training guidelines, and evaluate the skill level of novice and expert surgeons.Force and tactile sensing is lost in many Robot-Assisted Surgery (RAS) systems. Therefore, many researchers have focused on recovering this information through sensing systems and estimation algorithms. This article provides a comprehensive systematic review of the current force sensing research aimed at RAS and, more generally, keyhole endoscopy, in which instruments enter the body through small incisions. Articles published between January 2011 and May 2020 are considered, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The literature search resulted in 110 papers on different force estimation algorithms and sensing technologies, sensor design specifications, and fabrication techniques.