Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci robot allows surgeons to conduct surgery through teleoperation, by providing rich visual feedback. However, the addition of tactile feedback could facilitate the development of more robust control systems for autonomous surgery. In this research project, I set out to explore the extent to which low-­cost, low-­resolution sensors could accurately characterize critical surgical parameters such as needle contact, needle insertion, needle deflection within a phantom, and relative angle of insertion between the needle and phantom. These parameters are evaluated with a dual capacitive-­force sensor placed within a 3D printed module that fastens to the tip of the surgical instrument. The unit cost of this module is less than $10 USD. The low-resolution data set produced by these sensors proved sufficient to detect and characterize the kinematics of these common surgical procedures.