Force feedback for surgical simulation

Surgical simulation can provide great benefits to medicine by reducing the cost and duration of training and making the process more intuitive and informative. However, a simulation system imposes stringent requirements on the human-machine interface. A sense of touch greatly enhances the simulation experience, since much of the skill that a medical professional possesses is in his ability to explore and diagnose by touch. This sensory input can be provided by an input device with force and/or tactile feedback. There are many technical challenges associated with the creation of a robust surgical-simulation system incorporating touch feedback. The medical application has unique needs that drive the design of the mechanism, the control scheme, the tissue deformation engine, and the overall system architecture and distribution of computation. This technology is not yet mature; several companies are dedicated to creating various parts of a simulation system, but as yet there are no commercially available solutions that are cost effective. Interest in force-feedback devices is gaining momentum in the commercial sector however, notably in the area of personal computer games. The authors believe this interest will drive down the cost of components and spur research efforts so that better, more cost-effective force-feedback devices will be available to the medical community for use in widespread surgical-simulation systems.