Compact haptic device using a pneumatic bellows for teleoperation of a surgical robot

In this paper, a lightweight master interface for a surgical robot system is proposed. The position of the human hand is measured by a non-contact motion tracker, but the force feedback is realized by a handheld haptic device. A gripping force is displayed by a pneumatic bellows, which is smaller and more lightweight than electric motors. As for the slave manipulator, the gripper of a surgical forceps is actuated using a pneumatic cylinder. Force estimation is possible due to the back-drivability of the pneumatic actuator. Experimental results show the control performance of the haptic device and a constructed master-slave system.