Introducing a novel haptic interface for the planning and simulation of open surgery.

Existing simulation software, originally developed for the simulation and planning of inguinal hernia repair, was fused with two haptic feedback devices: the SensAble Technologies Phantom Desktop, and the ACROE/ICA Telluris system. The former allows easy integration on a PC-based platform, though in the long run, the Telluris system is preferred because of its robustness and its ability to design custom-built solutions.