s The Repulsive Force Spectrum of Magnetorheological Fluids Based Tactile Devices Applicable to Robot Surgery

Objective: This paper presents controllable force ranges of tactile devices made of smart Magnetorheological Fluids (MRF) and porous sponges (MR sponges in short). Methods: In order to identify the wide controllable range of the field-dependent repulsive force, three MR sponge samples with three different MR fluids are fabricated using polyurethane foam and cling film. Then, the repulsive forces of the samples are measured using the motor-driven experimental apparatus and the results are presented with minimum and maximum values of the repulsive forces. On the other hand, in order to investigate the feasibility of the proposed tactile device for application to Robot-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (RMIS), pig’s organs such as liver, lung and heart, whose viscoelastic properties are very similar to those of human tissues, are tested under same conditions. Results: It is shown that the range of the repulsive spectrum of the pig’s organs can be achieved using the proposed samples by controlling the magnetic field intensity to be applied to MRF domain.