Towards multimodal haptics for teleoperation: Design of a tactile thermal display

Surgical robotics is among the most challenging applications of motion control. Present and future systems are essentially master-slave systems. Our work focuses on force-feedback and haptic interfaces. In this context, we study multimodal haptic interfaces, i.e. the fusion of force-feedback, with other tactile information such as temperature or pressure. First results support the proposition that such multimodal haptic devices can help improve surgeon´s dexterity and motion control. In order to strengthen this point, we investigate the psychophysics of thermal perception. This paper presents a device for temperature feedback that can be integrated in a multimodal haptic console. A finger sized tactile temperature display able to generate temperature gradients under the fingertip is presented along with first measurement results.