In this work, the material characterization of hardening magneto-rheological (MR) sponge is analyzed and a robot-assisted surgery system integrated with a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) haptic master and slave root is constructed. As a first step, the viscoelastic property of MR sponge is experimentally analyzed. Based on the viscoelastic property and controllability, a MR sponge which can mimic the several reaction force characteristics of human-like organs is devised and manufactured. Secondly, a slave robot corresponding to the degree of the haptic master is manufactured and integrated with the master. In order to manipulate the robot motion by the master, the kinematic analysis of the master and slave robots is performed. Subsequently, a simple robot cutting surgery system which is manipulated by the haptic master and MR sponge is established. It is then demonstrated from this system that using both MR devices can provide more accurate cutting surgery than the case using the haptic master only.
Keywords: 6 degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) MR haptic master; MR sponge; RMIS (robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery); hardening sponge.