The PantoScope: a spherical remote-center-of-motion parallel manipulator for force reflection

Abstract

Force reflecting manual man-machine interfaces can provide the user with useful kinesthetic information in teleoperation tasks and virtual reality applications. In this paper we discuss the design of a novel spherical remote-center-of-motion manipulator for force reflection in a laparoscopic surgery simulation environment. A description of the pantograph-linkage based parallel structure is presented together with a discussion of its direct and inverse geometric models, instantaneous kinematics and statics, and usable workspace.