Investigation of a Cable Transmission for the Actuation of MR Compatible Haptic Interfaces

This paper investigates a cable transmission to remotely actuate MR compatible robots over a distance of several meters. Such a transmission could be an interesting solution for haptic interfaces for neuroscience studies performing force feedback during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as for robots for interventional MRI. MR compatible components, transmission length and bandwidth as well as cable properties are discussed. Experiments performed on an MR compatible test bench allowing variable transmission length up to 9 meters show a mechanical bandwidth of over 30 Hz. Transmission performances and flexibility are compared with those of a hydrostatic transmission.