An optical fibre dynamic instrumented palpation sensor for the characterisation of biological tissue

•We developed an optical-fibre sensor/actuator for measuring soft tissue stiffness.•A Fabry–Pérot interferometer is formed below a dynamically actuated membrane.•The sensor/actuator was used to palpate a model prostate simulating healthy and cancerous tissue.•Changes in the dynamic behaviour of the membrane correspond to tissue type.•This shows the viability of classifying tissue type using dynamic palpation.