FORCE REGULATING USING CONCEPTS OF HAPTIC AND VISUAL FORCE FEEDBACKS

Abstract

This paper presents results of evaluating different concepts of haptic and visual force feedback interfaces using a force-reflecting hand-controller designed to guide an ultrasound probe held by a robotic device. Experiments were conducted that resemble the type of path alignment and force regulating tasks that are needed to perform ultrasound examinations, remotely. In the first experiment, the effectiveness of visual force feedback, augmented haptic feedback and augmented haptic plus visual force feedback was tested. In the second experiment, the tasks were executed under communication network delays. The results confirm the expected observation that long variable communication delays degrade force regulating tasks using only the visual force feedback approach. The introduction of passive haptic feedback that constructs forces locally, allows participants to improve their performance, without causing instability due to variable or long network delays.