Optic fiber connection for a force sensing instrument

A method of force sensing at the tip of a robotic surgical instrument, the method comprising:

• providing a robotic surgical manipulator including a first fiber optic connector;
• mounting a removable surgical instrument on the robotic surgical manipulator, the surgical instrument including:
• a plurality of fiber optic strain gauges on a force transducer on a distal end of a shaft,
• a fiber optic splitter, and
• a second fiber optic connector that is optically linkable with the first fiber optic connector of the manipulator;
• and
• passing data from the plurality of strain gauges to the first fiber optic connector through the second fiber optic connector.

A surgical instrument, comprising:

• a housing linkable with a manipulator arm of a robotic surgical system;
• a shaft operably coupled to the housing;
• a force transducer on a distal end of the shaft;
• a plurality of fiber optic strain gauges on the force transducer, the plurality of strain gauges operably coupled to an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer;
• a fiber optic connector operably coupled to the AWG multiplexer;
• a wrist joint operably coupled to a distal end of the force transducer;
• and
• an end effector operably coupled to the wrist joint.