Design, control and evaluation of a six DOF force feedback interface for virtual reality applications

In this paper we present a new six degrees of freedom haptic interface based on Stewart platform. The long-term objective of the system design is to give the possibility for a surgeon to practice endoscopic procedures repeatedly until perfect before performing it on a patient. The device has been integrated in a virtual reality (VR) simulation which allows the user to perform gestures and optimize endoscopic movements. The control law scheme is composed by two loops : (1) the inner loop dedicated for cartesian displacements control, and (2) the outer loop used to take into account contact occurred with the environment and to regulate the relationship between endoscope end-point position and environment's force reaction