Electrosurgical forceps including a thick tissue sensor

A surgical instrument, comprising:

• a housing;
• a shaft extending distally from the housing;
• an end effector assembly disposed at a distal end of the shaft, the end effector including a first jaw and a second jaw movable relative to one another between an open
• configuration wherein the first and second jaws define a first jaw aperture angle greater than a predetermined jaw aperture angle and a closed configuration wherein the first and second jaws define a second jaw aperture angle less than the pre determined jaw aperture angle;
• a tissue sensor assembly having an open state when the first and second jaws are in the open configuration and a closed state when the first and second jaws are in the closed configuration;
• an activation assembly having an open state when no energy is deployed to the first and second jaws and a closed state when energy is deployed to the first and second jaws;
• and
• an identifier circuit configured to identify four states of the surgical instrument based on the open state or the closed state of each of the tissue sensor assembly and the activation assembly.