We present a robotic simulator of the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) in the V-REP simulation environment. The simulator fully reproduces the patient-side cart of the da Vinci robotic system, and can be interfaced both with a real Master console and with a simulated console equipped with cheap haptic interfaces and an Oculus Rift. In this latter case, the devices are employed for 3D visualization of the virtual scene and control of the endoscopic camera with head motion. The complete system represents an efficient, safe and low-cost tool useful to design and validate new surgical instruments and control strategies, for integrating learning in a simulation environment, and to provide an easy-to-access educational tool to students.
To show the effectiveness of the simulator, we considered different simulated applications, as shown in the video below. These results have been submitted for a future publication[1].
[1] G. A. Fontanelli, M. Selvaggio, M. Ferro, F. Ficuciello, M. Vendittelli, and B. Siciliano, Portable dVRK: an augmented V-REP simulator of the da Vinci Research Kit . Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 16(8), 79-98.