Design of a novel multi-modal tactile display device for biomedical applications

Tactile display has recently been attracting much attention in the field of human computer interaction. There is a strong need for such a device especially for surgeons who need to feel the tissue hardness during laparoscopic surgeries. The concept of design is built upon simple use of several springs which are made from Shape Memory Alloy, SMA, to control shape and stiffness. In this paper, we describe the design of a new device which can display both surface shape and stiffness of an object. The design parameters of this device are selected based on the spatial resolution of human finger and the stiffness range of the soft tissue. The design concept was validated through finite element analysis for the selected parameters.