LAUSR

Most haptic devices used in surgical simulators cannot display the force of multiple types of surgical instruments. To achieve this, an encountered-type haptic interface using magnetorheological (MR) fluid has been developed. This study aims to propose a scheme for displaying cutting force and elastic restoring force of soft biological tissue by the encountered-type haptic interface. The cutting force and elastic restoring force of soft biological tissue by a knife consist of two-directional forces: in the cutting direction and perpendicular to the cutting direction. Previous research has mainly focused on the cutting direction. Therefore, a scheme for displaying the two-directional forces is discussed in this paper. The proposed scheme controls the force perpendicular to the cutting direction by using servomotors that move a container of MR fluid. While displaying the force history when cutting a porcine liver, the error of the reference force in the direction perpendicular to the cutting direction was reduced without affecting the force in the cutting direction. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT