Interventional Radiology (IR) is a minimally‐invasive surgery technique (MIS) where guidewires and catheters are steered in the vascular system under X‐ray imaging. In order to perform these procedures, a radiologist has to be correctly trained to master hand‐eye coordination, instrument manipulation and procedure protocols. This paper proposes a computer‐assisted training environment dedicated to IR. The system is composed of a virtual reality (VR) simulation of the anatomy of the patient linked to a robotic interface providing haptic force feedback.

The paper focuses on the requirements, design and prototyping of a specific part of the haptic interface dedicated to catheters. Translational tracking and force feedback on the catheter is provided by two cylinders forming a friction drive arrangement. The whole friction can be set in rotation with an additional motor providing torque feedback. A force and a torque sensor are integrated in the cylinders for direct measurement on the catheter enabling disturbance cancellation with a close‐loop force control strategy.