Haptic Interactions Subject to Variable Latency.

Model-Mediated Teleoperation (MMT) between a haptic device and a remote or virtual environment uses a local model of the environment to compensate for latency of communication. MMT is often case-specific, and requires underlying latency distributions to be known. We propose a novel approach - which we refer to as the DelayRIM - which uses the time-stepping aspect of a Reduced Interface Model for the environment to render an up-to-date force to the haptic device from the delayed information. RIM is applicable to any physical or virtual system, and the DelayRIM itself makes no underlying assumption about the latency distribution. We show that for realistic variable delays, the DelayRIM improves transparency compared to other methods for a virtual drone bilateral teleoperation scenario.

Micro-optical force distribution sensing suitable for lump/artery detection.

Surgeons performing robotic-assisted surgical tasks need to establish the density and constituency of hidden tissue structures using only surgical tools. This is possible by integrating a miniaturized sensor into the end-effectors of robotic surgical systems. In this present work, optical microsystems technology is utilized to develop a miniature force-distribution sensor that can be integrated into surgical end-effectors. The sensing principle of the sensor is based on the mechanism of splice coupling. Since the device is fully optical, the sensor is magnetic-resonance compatible and is also electrically passive. The experimental results performed on the developed sensor confirm its ability to measure the distributed force information. Such information is used to detect different tissue structures such as lumps, arteries, or ureters during robotic-assisted surgical tasks.