Smart Soft Sensors Provide Real-Time Force Feedback in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally invasive surgery reduces recovery time and postoperative pain but limits tactile feedback for surgeons. Loss of force perception can increase the risk of tissue injury and complicate delicate dissection and suturing. Surgeons also lack real-time quantification of grip and contact forces during laparoscopic maneuvers. To help address this challenge, researchers have developed soft sensors that report force in real time during minimally invasive procedures.

NYU Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, UAE) has created multichannel soft microfluidic force sensors designed for integration with laparoscopic instruments. The sensors provide real-time measurement of forces ranging from light contact to stronger gripping during tool–tissue interaction. The team demonstrated the approach by integrating sensors into a laparoscopic grasper.

The system uses soft silicone embedded with tiny channels filled with liquid metal. When pressure is applied, the channels deform slightly and the device detects and quantifies the resulting force. Sensors can be positioned on the handle to capture user-applied force or on the jaw to measure tool–tissue interaction, supporting placement strategies that preserve a clear tip and ease sterilization when needed.

According to the report, the work is presented as an experimental study and details how sensor design parameters, including size and material, can be adjusted for different applications. The findings were published in Microsystems & Nanoengineering on April 20, 2026. Beyond surgery, the technology could be adapted for robotics, wearable devices, and other systems requiring accurate force sensing.

“Minimally invasive surgery benefits patients, but it also removes a key human capability: the surgeon’s sense of touch. In this work, we developed soft sensors that can capture a wide range of forces while remaining easy to integrate with existing tools, moving us closer to smarter and safer surgical instruments,” said Mohammad A. Qasaimeh, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at NYU Abu Dhabi and senior author of the study.

“Our goal was to create sensors that are both sensitive and practical for real surgical environments. This design allows us to measure both gentle and strong forces within the same small device, and to place sensors where they are most useful on surgical tools,” said Wael Othman, first author of the study and a former postdoctoral associate at NYU Abu Dhabi (now Assistant Professor at Khalifa University).

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NYU Abu Dhabi