Haptic Interface with Twin-Driven MR Fluid Actuator for Teleoperation Endoscopic Surgery System

Takehito Kikuchi,Asaka Ikeda,Tetsumasa Takano,Akinori Yamaguchi,Isao Abe

doi:10.3390/act10100245

Abstract

Magnetorheological fluids (MRFs) are composite materials made of ferromagnetic particles, medium oils, and several types of additives. We have developed an actuation system for the fine haptic control of leader-follower robots. In this study, we developed a haptic interface with two link-type twin-driven MR fluid actuators and two MR fluid brakes for a teleoperation endoscopic surgery system and conducted evaluation tests for a remote operational task with a leader-follower robot system. For evaluations, we adopted the NASA-TLX questionnaire as a subjective assessment method. According to the experimental results, the total success rates were 0.462, 0.333, and 0.591, for the first haptic, middle no-haptic, and second haptic phases, respectively. The force information of the haptic forceps helped users to perceive grasping sensation on their fingers. Statistical analyses on the answers to the questionnaire indicate no significant differences. However, a decreasing tendency in the mental stress in the complicated manipulation tasks for fragile objects is observed.

Highlights

IntroductionMany types of remote-controlled systems [1] have been proposed for various environments (e.g., handling of radioactive material and underwater robots) [2]
Endoscopic Surgery System.Many types of remote-controlled systems [1] have been proposed for various environments [2]
To improve the quality of haptic information in the robotic surgery system, we developed a twin-driven magnetorheological fluid (MRF) actuator (TD-MRA) [13] as a key component of the haptic interface

Summary

Introduction

Many types of remote-controlled systems [1] have been proposed for various environments (e.g., handling of radioactive material and underwater robots) [2]. Robot-aided surgical systems with remote-controlled robots [3] are the most successful in their applications. The control method for the conventional surgical robot is categorized in a direct control method [1]. In this method, the remote site system follows the motion of the user interface manipulated by an operator. The remote site system follows the motion of the user interface manipulated by an operator In this method, the local and remote sites are called the leader and follower systems, respectively

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion