Patent ID: 9259279
Filing Date: 2016-02-16
CPC Classification: A61B,G01L,Y10S

Claim Text:
1. A force sensing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of support frames configured to support a single surgical tool; a plurality of support frame sensors, each sensor provided on each of the plurality of support frames, respectively, to sense a compressive strain and a tensile strain of each of the plurality of support frames; a first grasper; a second grasper; an adjusting unit to adjust a pivot angle between the first grasper and the second grasper; a first grasper sensor provided on the first grasper to sense a compressive strain and a tensile strain of the first grasper; a second grasper sensor provided on the second grasper to sense a compressive strain and a tensile strain of the second grasper; and a processor to obtain information about a force applied to an object by the plurality of support frames, based on data sensed by the plurality of support frame sensors and to obtain at least one of information regarding whether the object is gripped, and a magnitude of a force applied to grip the object, using a compressive strain and a tensile strain of the first grasper and the second grasper, wherein, when the grasper sensors sense a tensile strain with respect to both the first grasper and the second grasper, the processor determines that the object is being gripped with a magnitude of a force that is proportional to the tensile strain.