Towards building a miniaturized shape sensor: Building process of a shape sensor for use in single port surgery

Abstract

3D shape sensing of flexible snakelike instruments using fiber Bragg gratings is a current research topic in robot assisted single port surgery (SPS). Though some results are achieved, a practical implementation that can be applied for instruments in SPS has not yet been particularly described. The specific instruments have special technical properties as e.g. they allow very small bending radii. In this work, approaches for the building process of a shape sensor that meets the special technical requirements of these instruments are pursued and evaluated. The theoretical foundations and calculation methods are adapted to the built shape sensor. The overall goal is to develop a building process for a miniaturized shape sensor that can be integrated into medical instruments. A first macro sized shape sensor has been successfully produced, but the miniaturization causes serious difficulties. In this work experiences with the fiber handling and occurring problems in production are described in detail. In summary, the realization of a shape sensor has already proven to be technically feasible but for miniaturization, further research concerning the used materials and the practical fiber handling is necessary.