Safety Operation Consciousness Realization of a MR Fluids-Based Novel Haptic Interface for Teleoperated Catheter Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery

In catheter minimally invasive neurosurgery (CMINS), catheter tip collision with the blood vessel detection during the surgery practice is important. Moreover, successful CMINS is dependent on the discrimination of collision by a skilled surgeon in direct operation. However, in the context of teleoperated scenario, the surgeon was physically separated. Therefore, the lack of haptic sensation is a major challenge for a telesurgery scenario. A human operator-centered haptic interface is adopted to address this problem. In this paper, a teleoperated robotic-assisted surgery and psychophysics-based safety operation consciousness theory was presented. Moreover, a human operator-centered haptic interface design concept is first introduced into actuator choice and design. A semiactive haptic interface was designed and fabricated through taking full advantage of MR fluids. Furthermore, a mechanical model (force/torque model) was established. In addition, in case of no collision, transparency of a teleoperated system was realized; in case of collision, psychophysics-based collision discrimination control scheme was first presented to provide safety operation consciousness. Experiments demonstrate the usability of the designed haptic interface and correctness of the safety operation consciousness control scheme.