Magnetostriction-based force feedback for robot-assisted cardiovascular surgery using smart magnetorheological elastomers

Magnetorheological elastomer composites are a class of smart materials with controllable deformation by an external magnetic field. Recent studies have shown the feasibility of using magnetorheological composites for tactile feedback applications. In this study, a new haptic feedback system for regulating torque through contact friction was proposed, constitutively modeled, and experimentally validated. To this end, an analytical constitutive model for the composite was proposed and solved and was used to find the contact stress between the composite and a ferromagnetic shaft. Afterward, the proposed device was prototyped and a series of validation studies with three types of magnetorheological composites was performed. The validation studies showed that the analytical predictions for resistant torque were in fair agreement with the experimental results. Also, the proposed device was capable of generating and controlling a resistant torque of up to 115.5±0.7 mNm and haptic force of up to 5.77 N. The system showed favorable performance for haptic feedback applications in robot-assisted cardiovascular interventions.