Surgical scalpel senses applied force

Scalpels with built-in sensors could streamline training for surgeons and enable procedures by robotic devices

The University of Edinburgh, UK, researchers found that the scalpel could accurately track how much force users were applying during surgical procedures, and how they were controlling the device.

The team says the device is low-cost and merely made of a scalpel connected to a sensor-loaded circuit board inside the handle.

They designed a machine learning model that analyses the data as force is applied by scalpel users.

They tested the scalpel by tracking 12 medical students and two surgeons as they carried out elliptical incisions, a procedure used for removing moles and skin legions such as melanoma, on synthetic material made of gelatin and silicone that mimics human skin.