Sapienza University of Rome leveraging TouchDIVER’s full haptic feedback in Medical Robots
A research group of Sapienza University of Rome adopted the TouchDIVER to deal with surgical robotics platforms that are not easily accessible, and within an interactive virtual environment meant for training and planning of medical procedures.
Case study 1
01
Goals
The research group started to investigate the possibility to interact with a virtual world by experiencing a small grounded haptic interface providing force feedback only. In the same period, the research group analyzed the role of the different components of the haptic feedback, and of their localization in the rendering on the user’s body.
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TouchDIVER adoption
The TouchDIVER was integrated in a dedicated software framework. Such framework allows to interact with a virtual world dynamically simulated in CoppeliaSim, a robotic simulation environment, through haptic interfaces and VR vision systems.
"What was missing, however, was the complete sense of touch"
"Haptic interfaces were already available on the market when I first started to investigate the possibility to interact with a virtual world and I experienced a small grounded haptic interface providing force feedback only. What was missing, however, was the complete experience of touch, i.e., not just force but also tactile information, like texture and temperature. In 2022, I learnt about the TouchDIVER device and we decided to integrate it" -
Prof. Marilena Vendittelli, Associate Professor of Automatic Control and Robotics at Sapienza University of Rome.
Case study 2
01
Goals
Within the Medical Robotics course, a group of students developed an interactive virtual environment meant for training and planning of medical procedures, and integrated it in the same software framework cited above.
02
TouchDIVER adoption
A virtual hand, controlled through the TouchDIVER, interacts with the digital 3D model of a phantom abdomen reconstructed from TC images of a professional physical phantom.
"The TouchDIVER's feedback contributed to form the haptic information during palpation of internal organs."
"Beyond providing an effective solution for the motion retargeting from the user hand, through the TouchDIVER, to a custom virtual hand, the work provides a useful integrated simulation framework that combines CoppeliaSIM, TouchDIVER, and Oculus." - Prof. Marilena Vendittelli, Associate Professor of Automatic Control and Medical Robotics at Sapienza University of Rome.
About
Marilena Vendittelli is Associate Professor of Automatic Control and Medical Robotics at Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2009 she has been teaching Medical Robotics for the MS in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and the MS in Biomedical Engineering. Her research interests are in motion planning and control of complex robotic systems. Since her PhD, she has considered applications to wheeled, aerial and humanoid robots. In the last few years, she has contributed to the development of simulation tools and control methods for robotic applications in the medical field.
TouchDIVER
TouchDIVER is the only VR haptic glove that co-localizes on fingertips the 3 stimuli influencing touch – force feedback, textures and thermal cues.
With TouchDIVER, interacting with virtual objects feels as natural as the real thing.
