Good performances in tele-surgery procedures is achieved when the surgeon acts and feels as if he were holding directly in his hands the surgical instruments interacting with the patient. To reach this goal, a high fidelity haptic device was recently developed at CEA LIST. As the development of such an input device calls for a precise understanding of the application requirements, we first introduce in this paper Minimally Invasive Surgery problematics and associated design guidelines. Then we focus on dimensioning and optimisation of input device performances allowing high quality remote handling. Finally, we present master arm first and second generation prototypes and their performances.

In this article, we present a new wearable haptic interface developed at CEA-LIST for precise finger interactions within virtual reality applications in large environments. The hand movements are tracked using a stereoscopic visual tracking system, allowing large movements in free space. Moreover, the device integrates two three degrees of freedom with force feedback robots associated with index and thumb fingers, allowing virtual objects fine manipulation. Finally, a two degrees of freedom tactile actuator is integrated under the pulp of each fingertip in order to improve the high frequency response of the haptic interface and to provide information on the texture and the shape of the virtual objects manipulated.

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