Design and performance evaluation of a prototype MRF-based haptic interface for medical applications

Authors

Mehrdad Kermani Ph.D., P.Eng., Western UniversityFollow
Nima Najmaei, Engineering Services Inc.
Ali Asadian, X (Google X)
Rajni Patel, Western UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2-1-2016

Volume

21

Issue

1

Journal

IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2015.2429140

Abstract

This paper describes the construction and stability and transparency evaluation of a prototype two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) haptic interface, which takes ad-vantage of magneto-rheological fluid (MRF)-based clutches for actuation. These small-scale clutches were designed in our lab, and their evaluation were reported previously [1],[2]. MRF-based actuators exhibit superior characteristics,which can significantly contribute to transparency and stability of haptic devices. Based on these actuators, a distributed antagonistic configuration is used to develop the2-DoF haptic interface. This device is incorporated in a master–slave teleoperation setup intended for medical per-cutaneous interventions and soft-tissue palpation. Preliminary studies on the stability and transparency of the haptic interface in this setup using phantom and ex vivo samples show the great potential of MRF-based actuators for integr-tion in haptic devices that require reliable, safe, accurate,highly transparent, and stable force reflection.