Self-Supervised Mask-Aware Transformers for Fault-Tolerant FBG Force Sensing in Minimally Invasive Surgical Robotics (opens in new tab)

In minimally invasive surgical robotics, catheter-scale Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors are promising due to their ability to estimate multi-dimensional forces by multiplexing several optical channels. However, deploying these compact multi-channel sensors introduces two critical engineering challenges: inherent nonlinear cross-axis coupling during complex deformations, and intermittent channel dropouts caused by fiber fractures in constrained...