An Innovative Master Haptic Interface Employing Magnetorheological Fluids for Endovascular Catheterization

Inadequate force feedback and collision warnings in teleoperated surgical instruments elevate risks during intravascular cannulation. This study introduces an innovative master haptic interface that utilizes magnetorheological (MR) fluid to enhance surgeons’ operational perception during robot-assisted intervention surgery. The system delivers real-time haptic feedback to enhance surgical operational safety and automatically amplifies the feedback force when the contact force on the slave side surpasses the predefined threshold, enabling timely collision alerts. A series of preliminary experiments has been carried out to validate the efficacy of this particular type of haptic interface. The experimental results clearly indicate that the master haptic interface based on MR fluid and carefully designed can effectively enhance the operator’s haptic perception and provide collision alarms in a timely manner with haptic clues, improving the safety and operability of robot intravascular intervention. This research provides some insights into the functional improvements of safe and reliable robot-assisted catheter systems.