Design and Performance Evaluation of a Prototype MRF-Based Haptic Interface for Medical Applications

This paper describes the construction and stability and transparency evaluation of a prototype two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) haptic interface, which takes advantage 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 the 2-DoF haptic interface. This device is incorporated in a master-slave teleoperation setup intended for medical percutaneous 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 integration in haptic devices that require reliable, safe, accurate, highly transparent, and stable force reflection.