CombX: Design and experimental characterizations of a haptic device for surgical teleoperation

Abstract Background Haptic devices with active translation and orientation outputs are highly preferred in surgical teleoperation. However, commercial products are expensive, while state‐of‐the‐art research prototypes are difficult to reproduce outside the original laboratories. Methods This paper presents the design and experimental characterizations of two styluses for the CombX, a haptic device with both force and torque outputs constructed from two TouchX haptic devices, which have only force outputs at their styluses. The arrangement was optimized to improve the specifications. Additional functions for surgical teleoperation were also integrated. Results The CombX has a translation workspace larger than 160 × 160 × 160 mm 3 . After calibration, it can provide force outputs of up to 16.32 N and torque outputs of up to 316 mNm. The CombX has also been successfully used to teleoperate a continuum surgical manipulator for two surgical tasks. Conclusion The results show that the CombX is a viable option for surgical teleoperation.