A Haptic Interface Displaying a Grasping Force using Pneumatic Bellows for Surgical Robot Systems

Abstract

Haptic feedback in teleoperated surgical robot systems enhances safety and efficiency of the surgery. In this paper, a haptic device, which displays the grasping force, is developed. The proposed device adopts welded metal bellows, which can be used as actuators by supplying compressed air. The device has three sets of bellows so that it has 2-DOFs and can display both positive and negative grasping force. A control method is developed, which converts the reference force to the thumb and the index finger to the reference pressure, and then controls the internal pressure of the bellows. An experiment using the proposed device and a virtual environment is conducted. The tracking performance of the force is shown.