Force feedback master arms, from telerobotics to robotics surgery training

Good performance of a force feedback input device is achieved when the surgeon would have the feeling in his hands of holding directly the surgical instruments interacting with the patient. This type of needs for high performance force feedback input device are similar to the requirement in telerobotics. In nuclear application, due to hazardous environment, remote operation are necessary. During maintenance phases, the operator should operate his set of tools remotely through a force feedback master/slave system. Advanced technics and technology have been developed sofar and many similarities could be pointed out with the surgical robotics applications. Therefore we aim benefits to apply this telerobotics background to develop surgical robotics systems. The development of a new input device calls first for a precise understanding of the application requirements. A complete bibliographic study as well as specific experiments were therefore undertaken to understand both the operators manipulative abilities (amplitude of movements, forces, bandwidth, ...) and the requirements of the tasks to be done (workspace, environment’s behaviour, ...). A new methodology was then developed to use these information to obtain precise design guidelines for the master arm.