My poster titled “Modification of Commercial Force Feedback Hardware for Needle Insertion Simulation” has been accepted for MMVR18 held in Newport Beach, California in February 8 – 12, 2011.

In this poster a SensAble Omni force feedback device has been modified to increase the face validity of a needle insertion simulation. The new end effector uses a real needle hub and shortened needle shaft in place of the Omni’s pre-fitted pen shaped end effector. This modification facilitates correct procedural training through the simulation of co-located visual and haptic cues in an augmented reality approach to simulation.

In this poster the development of the new end effector is described and a pictorial guide to its manufacture and the fitting process is provided.