50 research outputs found

    Haptic Rendering Based on RBF Approximation from Dynamically Updated Data

    Get PDF
    In this paper, an extension of our previous research focused on haptic rendering based on interpolation from precomputed data is presented. The technique employs the radial-basis function (RBF) interpolation to achieve the accuracy of the force response approximation, however, it assumes that the data used by the interpolation method are generated on-the-fly during the haptic interaction. The issue caused by updating the RBF coefficients during the interaction is analyzed and a force-response smoothing strategy is proposed

    Unified processing of constraints for interactive simulation

    Get PDF
    International audienceThis paper introduces a generic way of dealing with a set of different constraints (bilateral, unilateral, dry friction) in the context of interactive simulation. We show that all the mentioned constraints can be handled within a unified framework: we define the notion of generalized constraints, which can be derived into most classical constraints types. The solving method is based on an implicit treatment of constraints that provides good stability for interactive applications using deformable models and rigid bodies. Each constraint law is expressed in constraint subspace, making constraint evaluation much easier. A global solution is calculated using an iterative process that takes into account the mechanical coupling between the constraints. Various examples, from basic to more complex, show the practical advantage of using generalized constraints, as a way of creating heterogeneously constrained systems, as well as the scalability of the proposed method

    Virtual environments for medical training : graphic and haptic simulation of tool-tissue interactions

    Get PDF
    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-127).For more than 2,500 years, surgical teaching has been based on the so called "see one, do one, teach one" paradigm, in which the surgical trainee learns by operating on patients under close supervision of peers and superiors. However, higher demands on the quality of patient care and rising malpractice costs have made it increasingly risky to train on patients. Minimally invasive surgery, in particular, has made it more difficult for an instructor to demonstrate the required manual skills. It has been recognized that, similar to flight simulators for pilots, virtual reality (VR) based surgical simulators promise a safer and more comprehensive way to train manual skills of medical personnel in general and surgeons in particular. One of the major challenges in the development of VR-based surgical trainers is the real-time and realistic simulation of interactions between surgical instruments and biological tissues. It involves multi-disciplinary research areas including soft tissue mechanical behavior, tool-tissue contact mechanics, computer haptics, computer graphics and robotics integrated into VR-based training systems. The research described in this thesis addresses many of the problems of simulating tool-tissue interactions in medical virtual environments. First, two kinds of physically based real time soft tissue models - the local deformation and the hybrid deformation model - were developed to compute interaction forces and visual deformation fields that provide real-time feed back to the user. Second, a system to measure in vivo mechanical properties of soft tissues was designed, and eleven sets of animal experiments were performed to measure in vivo and in vitro biomechanical properties of porcine intra-abdominal organs. Viscoelastic tissue(cont.) parameters were then extracted by matching finite element model predictions with the empirical data. Finally, the tissue parameters were combined with geometric organ models segmented from the Visible Human Dataset and integrated into a minimally invasive surgical simulation system consisting of haptic interface devices inside a mannequin and a graphic display. This system was used to demonstrate deformation and cutting of the esophagus, where the user can haptically interact with the virtual soft tissues and see the corresponding organ deformation on the visual display at the same time.by Jung Kim.Ph.D

    Frictional Contact in Interactive Deformable Environments

    Get PDF
    L\u2019uso di simulazioni garantisce notevoli vantaggi in termini di economia, realismo e di flessibilit\ue0 in molte aree di ricerca e in ambito dello sviluppo tecnologico. Per questo motivo le simulazioni vengono usate spesso in ambiti quali la prototipazione di parti meccaniche, nella pianificazione e nell\u2019addestramento di procedure di assemblaggio e disassemblaggio inoltre, di recente, le simulazioni si sono dimostrate validi strumenti anche nell\u2019assistenza e nell\u2019addestramento ai chirurghi, in particolare nel caso della chirurgia laparoscopica. La chirurgia laparoscopica, infatti, \ue8 considerata lo standard per molte procedure chirurgiche. La principale differenza rispetto alla chirurgia tradizionale risiede nella notevole limitazione che ha il chirurgo nell\u2019interagire e nel percepire l\u2019ambiente in lavora, sia nella vista che nel tatto. Questo rappresenta una forte limitazione per il chirurgo a cui \ue8 richiesta una lunga fase di addestramento prima di poter ottenere la necessaria destrezza per intervenire in laparoscopia con profitto. Queste limitazioni, d\u2019altra parte, rendono la laparoscopia il candidato ideale per l\u2019introduzione della simulazione nell\u2019addestramento. Attualmente sono disponibili in commercio dei software per l\u2019addestramento alla laparoscopia, tuttavia essi sono in genere basati su modelli rigidi, o modelli che comunque mancano del necessario realismo fisico. L\u2019introduzione di modelli deformabili migliorerebbe notevolmente l\u2019accuratezza e il realismo delle simulazioni. Nel caso dell\u2019addestramento il maggior realismo permetterebbe all\u2019utente di acquisire non solo le conoscenze motorie basilari ma anche capacit\ue0 e conoscenze di pi\uf9 alto livello. I corpi rigidi, infatti, rappresentano una buona approssimazione della realt\ue0 solo in situazioni particolari ed entro intervalli di sollecitazioni molto ristretti. Quando si considerano materiali non ingegneristici, come accade nelle simulazioni chirurgiche, le deformazioni non possono essere trascurate senza compromettere irrimediabilmente il realismo dei risultati. L\u2019uso di modelli deformabili tuttavia introduce notevole complessit\ue0 computazionale per il calcolo della fisica che regola le deformazioni e limita fortemente l\u2019uso di dati precalcolati, spesso utilizzati per velocizzare la fase di identificazione delle collisioni tra i corpi. I ritardi dovuti all\u2019uso di modelli deformabili rappresentano un grosso limite soprattutto nelle applicazioni interattive che, per consentire all\u2019utente di interagire con l\u2019ambiente, richiedono il calcolo della simulazione entro intervalli di tempo molto ridotti. In questa tesi viene affrontato il tema della simulazione di ambienti interattivi composti da corpi deformabili che interagiscono con attrito. Vengono analizzati e sviluppati differenti tecniche e metodi per le diverse componenti della simulazione: dalla simulazione di modelli deformabili, agli algoritmi di identificazione e soluzione delle collisioni e alla modellazione e integrazione dell\u2019attrito nella simulazione. In particolare vengono valutati i principali metodi che rappresentano lo stato dell\u2019arte nella modellazione di materiali deformabili. L\u2019analisi considera i fondamenti fisici su cui i modelli si basano e quindi sul grado di realismo che possono garantire in termini di deformazioni modellabili e la semplicit\ue0 d\u2019uso degli stessi (ovvero la facilit\ue0 di comprensione del metodo, la calibrazione del modello e la possibilit\ue0 di adattare il modello a situazioni differenti) ma viene considerata anche la complessit\ue0 computazionale di ciascun metodo in quanto essa rappresenta un fattore estremamente importante nella scelta e nell\u2019uso dei modelli deformabili nelle simulazioni. Il confronto dei differenti modelli e le caratteristiche identificate hanno motivato lo sviluppo di un metodo innovativo per fornire un\u2019interfaccia comune ai vari metodi di simulazione dei tessuti deformabili. Tale interfaccia ha il vantaggio di fornire dei metodi omogenei per la manipolazione dei diversi modelli deformabili. Ci\uf2 garantisce la possibilit\ue0 di scambiare il modello usato per la simulazione delle deformazioni mantenendo inalterati le altre strutture dati e i metodi della simulazione. L\u2019introduzione di tale interfaccia unificata si dimostra particolarmente vantaggiosa in quanto permette l\u2019uso di un solo metodo per l\u2019identificazione delle collisioni per tutti i differenti modelli deformabili. Ci\uf2 semplifica molto l\u2019analisi e la definizione dei requisiti di tale modulo software. L\u2019identificazione delle collisioni tra modelli rigidi generalmente precalcola delle partizioni dello spazio in cui i corpi sono definiti oppure sfrutta la suddivisione del corpo analizzato in parti convesse per velocizzare la simulazione. Nel caso di modelli deformabili non \ue8 possibile applicare tali tecniche a causa dei continui cambiamenti nella configurazione dei corpi. Dopo che le collisioni tra i corpi sono state riconosciute e che i punti di contatto sono stati identificati e necessario risolvere le collisioni tenendo conto della fisica sottostante i contatti. Per garantire il realismo \ue8 necessario assicurare che i corpi non si compenetrino mai e che nella simulazione delle collisioni tutti i fenomeni fisici di interesse coinvolti nel contatto tra i corpi vengano considerati: questi includono le forze elastiche che si esercitano tra i corpi e le forze di attrito che si generano lungo le superfici di contatto. L\u2019innovativo metodo proposto per la soluzione delle collisioni garantisce il realismo della simulazione e l\u2019integrazione con l\u2019interfaccia proposta per la gestione unificata dei modelli. Una caratteristica importante dei tessuti biologici \ue8 il comportamento anisotropico, dovuto, in genere, alla loro struttura fibrosa. In questa tesi viene proposto un nuovo metodo per aggiungere l\u2019anisotropia al comportamento dei modelli massa molla. Il metodo ha il vantaggio di mantenere la velocit\ue0 computazionale e la semplicit\ue0 di implementazione dei modelli massa molla classici e riesce a differenziare efficacemente la risposta del modello alle sollecitazioni lungo le differenti direzioni. Le tecniche descritte sono state integrate in due applicazioni che forniscono la simulazione della fisica di ambienti con corpi deformabili. La prima delle due implementa tutti i metodi descritti per la simulazione dei modelli deformabili, identifica le collisioni con precisione e le risolve fornendo la possibilit\ue0 di scegliere il modello di attrito pi\uf9 adatto, dimostrando cos\uec la fattibilit\ue0 dell\u2019approccio proposto. La limitazione principale di tale simulatore risiede nell\u2019alto tempo di calcolo richiesto per la simulazione dei singoli passi di simulazione. Tale limitazione \ue8 stata superata in una seconda implementazione che sfrutta il parallelismo intrinseco delle simulazioni fisiche per ottimizzare gli algoritmi e che, quindi, riesce a sfruttare al meglio la potenza computazionale delle architetture hardware parallele. Al fine di ottenere le prestazioni richieste per la simulazione di ambienti interattivi con ritorno di forza, la simulazione \ue8 basata su un algoritmo di identificazione delle collisioni semplificato, ma implementa gli altri metodi descritti in questa tesi. L\u2019implementazione parallela sfrutta le capacit\ue0 di calcolo delle moderne schede video munite di processori altamente paralleli e ci\uf2 permette di aggiornare la scena ogni millisecondo. Questo elimina ogni discontinuit\ue0 nel ritorno di forza reso all\u2019utente e nell\u2019aggiornamento della grafica della scena, inoltre garantisce il realismo necessario alla simulazione fisica sottostante. Le applicazioni implementate provano la fattibilit\ue0 della simulazione della fisica di interazioni complesse tra corpi deformabili. Inoltre, l\u2019implementazione parallela della simulazione rappresenta un promettente punto di partenza per la realizzazione di simulazioni interattive che potr\ue0 essere utilizzato in ambiti di ricerca differenti, quali l\u2019addestramento di chirurghi o la prototipazione rapida.The use of simulations provides great advantages in term of economy, realism, and adaptability to user requirements in many research and technological fields. For this reason simulations are currently exploited, for example, in prototyping of machinery parts, in assembly-disassembly test or training and, recently, simulations have also allowed the development of many useful and promising tools for the assistance and learning of surgical procedures. This is particularly true for laparoscopic intervention. Laparoscopy, in fact, represents the gold standard for many surgical procedures. The principal difference from standard surgery is the reduction of the surgeon ability to perceive the surgical scenario, both from visual and tactile point of view. This represents a great limitation for surgeons who undergo long training before being able to perform laparoscopic intervention with proficiency. This, on the other hand, makes laparoscopy an excellent candidate for the use of simulations for training. Some commercial training softwares are already available on the market, but they are usually based on rigid body models that completely lack the physical realism. The introduction of deformable models may leads to a great increment in terms of realism and accuracy. And, in the case of laparoscopy trainer it may allow the user to learn not only basic motor skills, but also higher level capabilities and knowledge. Rigid bodies, in fact, represents a good approximation of reality only in some situations and in very restricted ranges of solicitations. In particular, when non engineering materials are involved, as happens in surgical simulations, deformations cannot be neglected without completely loosing the realism of the environment. The use of deformable models, however, is limited for the high computational costs involved in the computation of the physics undergoing the deformations and because of the reduction in pre computable data in particular for collision detection between bodies. This represents a very limiting factor in interactive environments where, to allow the user to interactively control the virtual bodies, the simulation should be performed in real time. In this thesis we address the simulation of interactive environment populated with deformable models that interact with frictional contacts. This includes the analysis and the development of different techniques which implement the various parts of the simulation: mainly the methods for the simulation of deformable models, the collision detection and collision solution techniques but also the modelling and the integration of suitable friction models in the simulation. In particular we evaluated the principal methods that represent the state of the art in soft tissue modeling. Our analysis is based on the physical background of each method and thus on its realism in terms of deformations that the method can mimic and on the ease of use (i.e. method understanding, calibration and ability to adapt to different scenarios) but we also compared the computational complexity of different models, as it represents an extremely important factor in the choice and in the use of models in simulations. The comparison of different features in analyzed methods motivated us to the development of an innovative method to wrap in a common representation framework different methodologies of soft tissue simulation. This framework has the advantage of providing a unified interface for all the deformable models and thus it provides the ability to switch between deformable model keeping unchanged all other data structures and methods of the simulation. The use of this unique interface allows us to use one single method to perform the collision detection phase for all the analyzed deformable models, this greatly helped during the identification of requirements and features of such software module. Collision detection phase, when applied to rigid bodies, usually takes advantage of pre computation to subdivide body shapes in convex elements or to construct partitions of the space in which the body is defined to speed up the computation. When handling deformable models this is not possible because of the continuous changes in bodies shape. The collision detection method used in this work takes into account this problem and regularly adapt the data structures to the body configuration. After collisions have been detected and contact points have been identified on colliding bodies, it is necessary to solve the collision in a physics based way. To this extent we have to ensure that objects never compenetrate during the simulation and that, when solving collisions, all the physical phenomena involved in the contact of real bodies are taken into account: this include the elastic response of bodies during the contact and the frictional force exerted between each pair of colliding bodies. The innovative method for solving collision that we describe in this thesis ensures the realism of the simulation and the seamless interaction with the common framework used to integrate deformable models. One important feature of biologic tissues is their anisotropic behavior that usually comes from the fibrous structure of these tissues. In this thesis we propose a new method to introduce anisotropy in mass spring model. The method has the advantages of preserving the speed and ease of implementation of the model and it effectively introduces differentiation of the model behavior along the chosen directions. The described techniques have been integrated in two applications that allows the physical simulation of environments populated with deformable models. The first application implements all the described methods to simulate deformable models, it performs precise collision detection and solution with the possibility to chose the most suitable friction model for the simulation. It demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The main limitation of this simulator, i.e. its high computation time, is tackled and solved in a second application that exploits the intrinsic parallelism of physical simulations to optimize the implementation and to exploit parallel architecture computational power. To obtain the performances required for an interactive environment the simulation is based on a simplified collision detection algorithm, but it features all the other techniques described in this thesis. The parallel implementation exploits graphic cards processor, a highly parallel architecture that update the scene every milliseconds. This allows the rendering of smooth haptic feedback to the user and ensures the realism of the physics simulation. The implemented applications prove the feasibility of the simulation of complex interactions between deformable models with physics realism. In addition, the parallel implementation of the simulator represents a promising starting point for the development of interactive simulations that can be used in different fields of research, such as surgeon training or fast prototyping

    Real-time measurement corrected prediction of soft tissue response for medical simulations

    Get PDF
    Medical simulators, such as in palpation and disease diagnosis, require an efficient model of the biological soft tissue deformation. Hence, a computationally fast and accurate algorithm is required to support and enhance user interactions in near real-time simulations. The visual accuracy of such simulators is dependent on the user¿s reaction time. Static visual images that update at a rate of 25 Hz are perceived as real-time moving images. Hence, visualizing software requires fast algorithms to compute the deformation of soft tissue to facilitate a meaningful simulation. Furthermore, soft tissue behaviour should be modelled accurately while compatible with real-time computation. This work proposes a fast solver for the linearized finite element method (FEM) and validates the proposed algorithm with experimental results. The novelty of the method lies in the utilization of real-time force/displacement measurements that are embedded in the solution via the Kalman filter. A novel computational algorithm that utilizes the strength of the FEM in terms of accuracy and employs direct measurements from the manipulated tissue to overcome the slow computational process of the FEM is proposed in the first part of the thesis. As the behaviour of the mechanically loaded tissue can be regarded as linearly responding at each time step, a constant acceleration temporal discretization method, i.e., the Newmark-ß is employed. In real-time applications, the accuracy of the target variable highly depends on the accuracy of the inputs while differentiating noise from the signal is hardly ever possible. To address this problem, a Kalman filter-based method is developed. The proposed algorithm not only filters the noise from the measurements but also adapts the filter gain to the estimates of the target variable, i.e., the resulting tissue deformation. For a simulated tension test of a cubic model, the proposed algorithm achieves the update frequency of 63.3 Hz. This rate is a significant improvement in computational speed compared to the 5.8 Hz update rate by the classic FEM. Besides, this novel combination of the KF and the FEM makes it possible to expand the displacement estimates in the spatial domain when the measurements are only partially available at certain points. The performance of the above method is validated experimentally through a comparison with indentation tests on artificial human tissue-like material and with the FEM result under identical simulation conditions. The test is repeated on several samples, and the displacement variation from the FEM outcome is considered as the model error. Simulation results show that the proposed method achieves the deformation update frequency of 145.7 Hz compared to the 2.7 Hz from the reference FEM. The proposed method shows the same predictive ability, only 0.47% difference from FEM on average. Experimental validation of the proposed KF-FEM confirms that by consideration of both the measurement noise and the model error, the proposed method is capable of achieving high-frequency response without sacrificing the accuracy. Further to this, the experiments confirmed the linearized model response is reliable within the applied displacement range and therefore proving that KF can be employed. The developed KF-FEM was modified in the next study to address the problem resulting from inaccurate external loads measurements by the force sensors. In the modified version, both the external force, i.e., driving variable, and the displacement, i.e., driven variable, are taken as system states. It is considered that the uncertainty of the model input influences the accuracy of the system estimates. The modified model is calibrated to differentiate the system noise from the input noise. Numerical simulations were conducted on a liver shape geometrical model, and the simulation results demonstrate that more than 90% of the measurement noise is removed. The computational speed is also increased, delivering up to 89 Hz update rate. While the uncertainty of the external load is replicated in the displacements in an FEM solution, the developed algorithm can differentiate the measurement noise, including the displacement and external forces, from the system error, i.e., the FE model error. In the last study, the proposed model was developed to reflect the nonlinear behaviour of the manipulated tissue. The Central Difference time discretization method was used to model large deformations. A novel feature is that the Equation of motion is formulated within the element level rather than in the global spatial domain. This approach helped to improve the computational speed. Indentation with strains of slightly over 10% was simulated to assess the performance of the proposed model. The developed algorithm achieved the 33.85 Hz update frequency on a standard-issue PC and confirmed its suitability for real-time applications. Also, the proposed model achieved estimates with a maximum 5.75% mean absolute error (MAE) concerning the measurements while the classic FEM showed 6.20% MAE under identical simulation condition. Results confirm that deformation estimates for noisy boundary loads of the FEM can be improved with the help of direct measurements and yet be realistic in terms of real-time visual update. This study proposed a novel computational algorithm that achieved update frequencies of higher than 25 Hz to be perceived as real-time in human eyes. The developed KF-FEM model has also shown the potential of improving the FEM accuracy with the help of direct measurements. The proposed algorithm used partially available measurements and expanded its estimates in the spatial domain. The method was experimentally validated, and the model input uncertainty, as well as the nonlinear behaviour of the soft tissue, were assessed and verified

    Software toolkit for modeling, simulation and control of soft robots

    Get PDF
    International audienceThe technological differences between traditional robotics and soft robotics have an impact on all of the modeling tools generally in use, including direct kinematics and inverse models, Jacobians, and dynamics. Due to the lack of precise modeling and control methods for soft robots, the promising concepts of using such design for complex applications (medicine, assistance, domestic robotics...) cannot be practically implemented. This paper presents a first unified software framework dedicated to modeling, simulation and control of soft robots. The framework relies on continuum mechanics for modeling the robotic parts and boundary conditions like actuators or contacts using a unified representation based on Lagrange multipliers. It enables the digital robot to be simulated in its environment using a direct model. The model can also be inverted online using an optimization-based method which allows to control the physical robots in the task space. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, we present various soft robots scenarios including ones where the robot is interacting with its environment. The software has been built on top of SOFA, an open-source framework for deformable online simulation and is available at https://project.inria.fr/softrobot
    corecore