A project was undertaken to improve robotic surgical tools for telerobotic minimally invasive surgery. The major objectives were to reduce the size of the tools to permit new surgical procedures in confined spaces such as the heart and to improve control of surgical tools by locating positional sensors and actuators at the end effector rather than external to the patient as is currently the state of the technology. A new compact end-effector with wrist-like flexibility was designed. Positional sensors based on MEMS microfabrication techniques were designed.