Cutaneous device for teleoperated needle insertion

A new device providing cutaneous feedback is presented. Two motors are used to flex two mobile platforms, applying a normal force to the user's thumb and index finger pads. The cutaneous device substitutes the typical kinesthetic and cutaneous feedback, usually provided by grounded haptic interfaces, with the cutaneous component only. The main advantage of this approach is that it does not suffer from typical stability issues and it can be considered intrinsically safe when used in a teleoperation system. The proposed technique can be casted in a sensory substitution framework but there are relevant differences which are worth underlining. Its main advantage, with respect to classic sensory substitution techniques which employ visual and/or auditory feedback, is that the substitution occurs at the cutaneous level and the feedback is applied directly on the finger pads, i.e. exactly where the force feedback is expected by the operator. A teleoperated needle insertion application is considered, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the device.