A haptic interface for a virtual exam of the human thigh

This paper proposes a method for interfacing a force-feedback device of type PHANToM to a spring-damper model of the human thigh. The model was defined from experimental data and it is simulated using implicit integration. The main difficulty encountered is that while the PHANToM needs to receive the force values at a rate of 1 KHz, the physical model runs at a maximum speed of 100 Hz. Supplying forces at this frequency leads to unrealistic vibration in the force feedback. The novelty of our approach is the use of a local model supplying reliable force values at a high frequency. The purpose of this work is to contribute for the implementation of an echographic simulator with force-feedback.