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Modeling the Forces of Cutting With Scissors

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering · April 2008

DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2007.908069 · Source: PubMed

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 Modeling the Forces of Cutting with Scissors
Mohsen Mahvash, Member, IEEE, Liming Voo, Diana Kim, Kristin Jeung, Joshua Wainer,
and Allison M. Okamura, Associate Member, IEEE

Abstract—Modeling forces applied to scissors during cutting thin objects in daily tasks. To see this, compare cutting of a
of biological materials is useful for surgical simulation. Previous sheet of paper using a pair of scissors with that of using a sharp
approaches to haptic display of scissor cutting are based on blade. When cutting with a blade, the paper should be firmly
recording and replaying measured data. This paper presents an
analytical model based on the concepts of contact mechanics held, and it is difficult to make precise cuts. However, when
and fracture mechanics to calculate forces applied to scissors cutting with a pair of scissors, the scissor blades themselves
during cutting of a slab of material. The model considers the locally hold the paper, making it easy to have precise cuts.
process of cutting as a sequence of deformation and fracture An interaction between scissors and an object involves two
phases. During deformation phases, forces applied to the scissors main physical phenomena, local deformation and fracture. As
are calculated from a torque-angle response model synthesized
from measurement data multiplied by a ratio that depends on soon as the scissors blades contact the object, the object is lo-
the position of the cutting crack edge and the curve of the cally deformed. When the deformation reaches a certain level,
blades. Using the principle of conservation of energy, the forces of fracture occurs and the object is separated. A physics-based
fracture are related to the fracture toughness of the material and model for scissor cutting should model forces of deformation
the geometry of the blades of the scissors. The forces applied to and fracture.
scissors generally include high-frequency fluctuations. We show
that the analytical model accurately predicts the average applied It is generally impossible to directly calculate forces of local
force. The cutting model is computationally efficient, so it can deformation of an object from its material properties and its
be used for real-time computations such as haptic rendering. constitutive equations in real time [9]. It takes a long time
Experimental results from cutting samples of paper, plastic, cloth, even for a very fast computer to calculate forces. However,
and chicken skin confirm the model, and the model is rendered since the forces of local deformations depend on only a few
in a haptic virtual environment.
parameters, it is possible to calculate the forces from a few
Index Terms—Haptic rendering, physics-based modeling, scis- measured force responses using an analytical approach [9].
sor cutting, biological tissues, robotics. Fracture mechanics offers an energy-based approach to
measure strength of an object against growth of cracks [10].
I. I NTRODUCTION The basic idea is that the development of a crack inside
an object requires a certain amount of energy that depends
M ODELING forces applied to surgical instruments is
useful for surgical simulations and surgical plan-
ning [1]. Surgical simulators can provide a safe effective
on the area of the crack and the fracture toughness of the
object. Fracture toughness is a material property that defines
training environment, potentially reducing the use of human the energy required to separate a unit of area of a material.
cadavers and animals [2]. Haptic technology is enabling the Fracture toughness can also be interpreted as the resistance of
development of training simulators that allow users to feel a material against sharp cuts [10], [11].
In this paper, we use a fracture mechanics analytical ap-
tissue through virtual instruments. Realistic haptic feedback is
proach to model forces applied to scissors during cutting of
expected to increase the training effectiveness of surgical sim-
an object. The model calculates the forces from a measured
ulators [3], [4]. To create realistic haptic surgical simulators,
torque-angle response, the fracture toughness of the object,
a high-fidelity approach is to calculate forces from physics-
the geometry of the scissors, and the position of the crack
based models [5]. A physics-based model should relate the
edge. Experimental results of cutting samples of paper, plastic,
forces of simulation to either measured properties of a material
cloth, and chicken skin confirm the model, and a haptic virtual
or sampled force responses directly measured from mechanical
environment is used to demonstrate scissor cutting.
interactions [6], [7].
Scissors are possibly the most effective and precise tools for II. R ELATED W ORK
cutting of thin tissues in open and laparoscopic surgery [8] and
Several approaches were used to model scissor cutting for
Manuscript received Nov 28, 2006. This work was supported in part by the haptic simulation. Greenish et al. used force data recording
National Science Foundation Grant No. EIA-0312551, National Institutes of and replaying for haptic simulation of scissor cutting [12].
Health Grant No. R01-EB002004, and the Johns Hopkins University.
M. Mahvash is with the Engineering Research Center for Computer Only the information obtained during force recording could be
Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (ERC-CISST), the Johns Hopkins replayed during simulation. Mahvash and Okamura introduced
University, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA, (e-mail: [email protected]). A. M. an analytical model to simulate cutting with scissors whose
Okamura is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Johns
Hopkins University, (e-mail: [email protected]). D. Kim, K. Jeung, and J. blades have a rectangular shape [13]. In this paper, we extend
Wainer were with the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical the analytical model to include scissors with arbitrary curves.
and Computer Engineering, the Johns Hopkins University. We also perform experimental tests to verify the model.
L. Voo is with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory, Laurel, MD, 20723 USA, (e-mail: [email protected]) Cutting of a deformable object is related to the fracture
Copyright (c) 2007 IEEE. occurring inside the object [10], [11], [14], [15], [16], [17].
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 2

Darvell et al. introduced scissor cutting as an approach

for measuring fracture toughness of thin deformable mate-
rials [15]. Pereira et al. used scissors to rank the fracture
toughness of biological materials [16]. Ghatak and Mahadevan
investigated the dynamics of a crack formed by a blunt
cylindrical tool when it cuts a thin layer of a brittle mate-
rial [18]. Mahvash and Hayward introduced a fracture me-
chanics approach for haptic rendering of cutting with a sharp
tool [11]. The approach was applied to haptic rendering of
cutting with a sharp blade. In [4], the fracture mechanics
approach was extended to predict forces applied to a blunt
laprascopic tool when it separated two deformable bodies.
Heverly et al. investigated high-frequency force fluctuations
caused during needle insertion [17]. Atkin et al. used an
energy-based approach to explain why it is easier to cut with
a sharp knife when pressing down and sliding (sawing) than
pressing down alone [14].
Approaches that do not use fracture mechanics have been
invoked to model cutting in surgical simulation and planning.
For example, Chanthasopeephan et al. measured the force-
displacement curve during cutting of a sample of liver with
a sharp blade and used the finite-element method to model
it. DiMaio and Salcudean developed a force model for needle
insertion based on the finite-element method [19]. Okamura
et al. developed a force model for needle insertion based on Fig. 1. The states of scissors and a plate at time t and t + dt of a cutting
experimental data [20]. process. At time t, the plate is locally deformed. During time period dt, a
small area of the plate, h dxc , is cut.

III. S CISSOR -M ATERIAL I NTERACTION M ODEL

When you cut an object with a pair of scissors, the force that where g(·) is a nonlinear function of the tip displacement,
you feel between your fingers includes two main components: obtained by measurement or material properties.
friction forces of the contact of the blades, and the forces of The torque caused by fn at the pivot is calculated by
cutting of the object. In this section, we do not model the
τ = xc fn cos(α), (2)
friction forces. However, we show in Section IV that friction
forces can be measured by opening or closing empty scissors, where α is the angle between the blade’s edge and the
and be summed into the model. centerline of the blade. (α is not zero because scissors’ blades
are slightly tapered as shown in Figure 1.)
A. Contact Forces The force felt by the user at the handle is calculated by:
Figure 1a shows the interaction between a pair of scissors τ xc
fu = = fn cos(α), (3)
and a thin plate with thickness h at the time t when the plate is R R
locally deformed. A Cartesian frame is defined at the pivot of where R is the distance between the pivot and the handle.
the scissors such that the x axis is along the symmetry line of
the scissors. The plate is located along x and it does not move B. Curve of the Blade Edge
during cutting. We assume that the pivot of the scissors does
not change orientation during cutting. For now, we also assume The curve of the blade edge has a significant effect on the
that the pivot of the scissors does not move. The opening angle torque response of the scissors. Here, we define the curve of
of the scissors is defined by θ, and the position of the edge of the edge of the upper blade in the Cartesian frame as
the crack made by the scissors is defined by xc . y = φ(x, θ), (4)
The blades locally deform an area of the plate around
the crack edge. The deformation can take various forms where (x, y) is a point on the edge of the blade and φ(·, ·)
including bending, stretching, compression, or a combination is a nonlinear function. We obtain φ by fitting an analytical
thereof. During deformation, the upper edge of the crack tip curve to the edge of the upper blade as shown in Figure 2.
is displaced from (xc , h/2) to (xc , h/2 − δ), where δ is a We extract the blade edge from a real image of the blade.
displacement length (Figure 1). In response to deformation of Considering (4), the displacement length δ caused by a blade
the plate, the force fn is applied to the upper blade along with curve φ is obtained by
the normal to the blade’s edge at point (xc , h/2 − δ). fn is
h/2 − δ = φ(xc , θ)
calculated by
fn = g(δ), (1) δ = h/2 − φ(xc , θ). (5)
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 3

where τc is the torque applied to the scissors during sharp

cutting. dx
dθ is obtained by taking the derivative of (5) with
c

respect to θ
dδ 1 dh d φ(xc , θ) ∂φ ∂φ dxc
= − =0− − . (13)
dθ 2 dθ dθ ∂θ ∂xc dθ
If
¡ dδwe ignore
¢ the change of displacement δ during cutting
dθ = 0 , we can conclude from (13)
dxc ∂φ/∂θ
=− . (14)
dθ ∂φ/∂xc
Substituting (14) into (12) yields
∂φ/∂θ
τc = Jc h . (15)
Fig. 2. Calculating blade curve φ for a pair of Metzenbaum scissors. An ∂φ/∂xc
analytical curve is fit to the edge of the upper blade.
This shows that the torque during cutting depends on the
toughness Jc , the thickness of the plate h, and the curve of
the edges of the scissors φ(·, ·), and it is independent of the
C. Sharp Cutting Forces
stiffness of the plate represented by g(·).
Figure 1 shows two sequential time steps: t, and t + dt, of
a scissor cutting process. During dt, the opening angle of the D. High-Frequency Force Fluctuations During Cutting
scissors is changed from θ to θ +dθ, and the crack tip position
is moved from xc to xc + dxc . The area of crack extension is High-frequency force/torque fluctuations are formed by a
dA = h dxc . sequence of deformation and rupture phases caused inside
A fracture mechanics energy-based approach is used to the plate during cutting [11]. The torque increases during a
estimate the torque and the crack tip position during cutting. deformation phase and overcomes the torque of sharp cutting.
Based on the principle of conservation of energy, Then, the torque quickly drops when fracture occurs. The
cutting model of this work does not predict the beginning
dWe = dWA + dU, (6) of rupture phases and the amplitude of the force fluctuations.
However, the model predicts the average torque during cutting
where dWe is the external work applied by the scissors, dU is where the torque fluctuates. Combining (10) and (12) yields
the change in elastic potential energy stored in the plate and
dU
dWA is the irreversible work of fracture. τ = τc − . (16)
If we assume quasi-static operation and ignore inertia terms, dθ
the external work dWe can be calculated by An average torque is obtained by taking integrals from both
sides of (10) during [θ θ + ∆θ]
dWe = −τ dθ. (7) R θ+∆θ R θ+∆θ R θ+∆θ
θ
τ dθ θ
τc dθ dU
= − θ , (17)
If the blade is very sharp such that it does not cause cutting ∆θ ∆θ ∆θ
burrs, the work of fracture for separating the area dA is τav ≈ τc − 0
calculated by [10]
Thus the average torque is approximately equal to the torque
dWA = Jc dA = Jc h dxc . (8) of sharp cutting, and it is independent of deformation charac-
teristics of the interaction.
where Jc is the fracture toughness. Substituting (7) and (8)
into (6) gives E. Complete Scissor-Material Interaction Process
−τ dθ = Jc h dxc + dU, (9) We summarize how the torque τ is calculated during a
and cutting process without force fluctuations. The following vari-
dxc dU ables should be available to predict the whole scissor-material
τ = −Jc h − . (10) interaction: g(·), Jc , h, and φ(·, ·). The interaction consists
dθ dθ
of different phases as marked in the torque-angle curve of
If the deformation pattern around crack tip does not signifi-
Figure 3. From point 0 to point 1, the blades are not yet in
cantly change when the crack tip is displaced, we can ignore
contact with the plate so the torque is zero, τ = 0. From
the change of the potential elastic energy stored in a plate
1 to 2, the blades deform a region around the crack tip xc .
during sharp cutting
dU The length of displacement at the crack tip, δ, is calculated
= 0. (11) by (5), and the torque τ is obtained by (2). When the level of
dθ
τ reaches the sharp cutting torque τc , cutting starts, δ remains
This and (10) yield constant, and the crack tip xc is updated by (5). At point 3,
dxc the scissors are opened, and the crack extension stops. From
τc = −Jc h . (12) 3 to 4, the deformation at a new crack front relaxes, and
dθ
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 4

Fig. 4. A two-degree-of-freedom robot controls the motion of a pair of

Fig. 3. Torque-angle responses of cutting processes with and without scissors to perform cutting. A force sensor measured forces applied to the
fluctuations. Each process consists of several phases: no contact, from 0 handle.
to 1, deformation, from 1 to 2, cutting, from 2 to 3, and deformation
(relaxation), from 3 to 4 deformation. During the crack extension of cutting
with fluctuations (from 2 to 3), the torque fluctuates around an average torque
predicted by the cutting model. translational arm that are able to close the scissors and move
its pivot along a straight line. The pivot displacement and the
opening angle were measured by encoders. An ATI Nano-
the torque is calculated by (2). Figure 3 also shows another 17 force sensor attached to the rotational arm of the robot
possible trajectory for scissor cutting. The torque trajectory was used to measure the cutting forces. The force sensor was
includes high frequency fluctuations during fracture (from 2 to not connected to the upper blade, in order to prevent possible
3), which are not completely predictable. The high-frequency misalignments of the setup that would damage the force sensor.
torque fluctuations are formed as a sequence of deformation Two pairs of Metzenbaum scissors with different blade sizes
and rupture phases. The average torque during 2 to 3 is were used. The function that represents the edge curve of a
predicted by (12). pair of Metzenbaum was obtained by geometrical calculations
(considering a blade has a tapered, rectangular shape, Fig-
F. Cutting by Slicing the Scissor Blades over the Plate ure 2):
µ µ ¶¶
1 θ
We now consider the case that the blades of the scissors φ(x, θ) = a + x b + tan , (19)
slice through the plate to cut it. First, the scissor blades are 2 2
closed and deform the plate. Then the pivot of the scissors are where a and b were two constant coefficients. The coefficients
moved along x axis and cut the plate. The force caused by for the small and large scissors were obtained based on
deformation force fn (22) at the pivot along x is calculated measurements taken directly from the scissors. We took a
by picture of each pair of scissors and then set the coefficients
³θ ´
fx = −fn sin −α (18) fitting the curve φ(x, θ) to the edge of the upper blade of the
2
scissors in the image (Figure 2). The coefficients were:
where θ2 − α is the angle between the upper blade edge and
the x axis (Figure 1). Small scissors: a = -11, b = 0.14 (20)
The torque applied to the upper blade is calculated by (2), Large scissors: a = -11, b = 0.12
considering xc as the distance between the crack edge and the
pivot. Sharp cutting starts when the torque reaches the sharp The distance of force sensor from the pivot of the scissors
cutting torque level calculated by (15) and continues as long as were
the pivot moves toward the plate. The torque and force applied
to the pivot remain constant during cutting if the opening angle Small scissors: R = 9.8 cm
of the scissors does not change. Large scissors: R = 12 cm

IV. E XPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF THE M ODEL These lengths were used to calculate torques applied to scis-
A series of cutting experiments were performed to validate sors from the forces measured by the force sensor.
the analytical model. We cut strips of four different materials: paper, plastic, cloth,
and chicken skin. The width of all samples was approximately
2.3 cm. During each test, a sample was held along the straight
A. Methods and Materials edge of the upper blade of scissors by two clamps (Figure 4).
A two-degree-of-freedom robot holding a pair of scissors The scissors were first opened by hand. Then a controller
(Figure 4) was used to perform two sets of experiments, one moved the pivot of the scissors to a certain distance from
set to obtain the parameters of the model and the other set the edge of the sample, and closed the scissors at a rate of 3
to evaluate the model. The robot has a rotational arm and a degree/sec. The scissor pivot did not translate during cutting.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 5

TABLE I
M ODEL PROPERTIES OF THE FOUR DIFFERENT PLATES USED FOR SCISSOR
CUTTING .

Material Jc (KJ/m2 ) k (N/mm) h (mm)

Paper 4.9 5 0.1
Plastic 3.17 20 0.1
Cloth 2.43 3 0.3
Chicken Skin 2.8 8 1.0

by
Wtotal − Wfriction
Jc = , (21)
hlc
where Wtotal is the external work applied to the scissors during
cutting of the plate, Wfriction is the external work applied to the
Fig. 5. The force-angle curves of empty cuts made by small and large
scissors. The force curves show friction forces between the blades. The spike scissors during the empty cut, and lc is the length of cut.
in force-angle response of the small scissors occurring around 12 degrees is Wtotal is calculated by the area under a measured force-angle
due to a tiny nick on the surface of the upper blade of the scissors. curve multiplied by R, the distance between the force sensor
and the scissors pivot. Wfriction is calculated by the area under
the force-angle curve of the empty scissors multiplied by R.
A linear function estimates g(·), the force-deflection rela-
tionship during contact between a pair scissors and a plate.
g(δ) = k δ, (22)
where k is a constant factor. k depends on the elastic properties
of the material (including Young’s modulus and the shear
modulus) and the sharpness of the scissors. We calculated
k for each combination of material type and blade-cutting-
edge sharpness from a force-deflection curve measured for an
interaction between scissors of the same blade type and the
plate of the same material during a deformation phase. Table I
lists Jc of the four materials and k for deforming the four
materials with the small scissors. We use the same k for the
large scissors.
Figure 6 shows how the force-angle curve of cutting of a
Fig. 6. The cutting model first calculates cutting forces during different
phases, then the total forces are calculated by adding the cutting and friction
plate of paper is obtained using the analytical model. First, the
forces. High-frequency force fluctuations in the total force curve are due to cutting model calculates cutting forces during different phases
the force fluctuations of the empty cut curve (variation of friction forces). of cutting based on the fracture toughness of the paper and k
The plate ends at point 3 and therefore the force instantaneously declines and
empty cut starts.
for the paper-small scissor combination. Then the total forces
are calculated by adding the cutting forces and the measured
friction forces.
B. Model Parameters and Output
C. Model Evaluation
We obtained fracture toughness, Jc , and force-displacement
curves of the plates, g(·), from a set of measurements obtained We tested the following hypotheses about the analytical
prior to evaluating the model. (Fracture toughness of materials model through cutting the plates of the four materials:
can be alternatively found in material-property tables [14].) To • Force-angle curves of cutting of a slab of a material with
obtain each parameter of the model, we performed five cutting a pair of scissors under the same model conditions are
tests on the same plate of material with the same scissors as repeatable.
described in the last section. We took the average of the five • The force-angle responses of cuts made with scissors
measurements to obtain the model parameters. match model predictions for various interaction situa-
Friction between the blades of the pairs of scissors was tions.
measured by closing the blades over air (empty scissors), and Figures 7-10 each show three overlaid force-angle curves for
was integrated into the model. Figure 5 shows the force-angle cuts made by the small Metzenbaum scissors on plates of each
curves of empty cuts made by the small and large Metzenbaum of the four materials and the corresponding force-angle curve
scissors. obtained by the analytical model. Figure 11 shows a force-
The fracture toughness of each plate for each test is obtained angle curve of a cut made by the large Metzenbaum scissors
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 6

cloth

Fig. 7. Comparison of three force-angle curves made by the small scissors Fig. 9. Comparison of three force-angle curves made by the small scissors
on paper samples and a force-angle curve obtained by the cutting model. on cloth samples and a force-angle curve obtained by the cutting model.
Measured force-angle responses are similar. The model force response follows Measured force-angle responses are similar. The model force follows the
the average of the measured forces. average of the measured forces.

plastic chicken skin

Fig. 8. Comparison of three force-angle curves made by the small scissors

on plastic samples and a force-angle curve obtained by the cutting model. Fig. 10. Comparison of three force-angle curves made by the small scissors
Measured force-angle responses are similar. The model force response follows on chicken skin samples and a force-angle curve obtained by the cutting model.
the average of the measured forces. Measured force-angle responses are similar. The model force response follows
the average of the measured forces during cutting for opening angles less than
7 degrees.

on a plate of paper and the corresponding force-angle curve

obtained by the analytical model.
Referring to Figures 7-10, the measured force responses 1) The edge curve of the blades near their ends or zero
of each material are similar. They have the same phases opening angle is not accurately estimated by the curve
(deformation and fracture) and the average force in each phase function φ.
is almost equal to that predicted by the model. The force 2) The end of the plate was reached at the end of the cutting
response of cutting chicken skin varied between samples more phase. At the end of the plate, the elastic energy stored
than the other materials. This is likely due to the thickness in the plate no longer was fully shifted to a new crack
variation and inhomogeneity of chicken skin samples. edge. Instead, the elastic energy was gradually released
Figures 7-10 also show that the cutting model predicts in crack edge and this reduced the external energy and
cutting forces for various material toughness and contact force required to make the cut.
stiffness. For most interactions shown in Figures 7-10, the It should be mentioned that the force responses of cutting
cutting model forces are slightly larger than measured forces chicken skin deviate significantly from the model toward the
around the end of the cutting phase. The possible explanations end of the cut. This is likely because all skin samples become
for this are: thinner at the edges.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 7

Fig. 13. During haptic simulation of scissor cutting of a layer of paper:

force-angle and time-angle responses of the scissors. The model of Figure 7
Fig. 11. Force-angle curves of cuts made by large scissors on paper. This was used to calculate forces.
confirms that the cutting model is valid for different scissors than the small
scissors whose data are shown shown in Figures 7-10.
tion level of the model (friction force during sliding phases of
the model) is calculated by the empty-cut force-angle response
of Figure 5.
Figure 13 shows the angle-time response and the force-angle
output of the renderer when a layer of virtual paper was cut.
In this example, the user only closed and opened the scissors,
avoiding translation. The cutting model of Figure 7 was used
to calculate forces.
We compare the force-angle curve of the simulation with
the measured force-angle curves of cutting paper to evaluate
the model for haptic rendering. The force-angle curve of
simulation, Figure 13, has the same envelope as the predicted
force-angle curve of Figure 7. Therefore, the envelope of the
simulation force-angle curve is almost equal to the average
of each experimental force-angle curve. This concludes that
the frequency responses of the simulated force and each
Fig. 12. Two-degree-of-freedom haptic scissors. experimental force match at low frequencies.
Figure 13 shows force fluctuations with smaller amplitudes
and lower frequency than the experimental data in Figure 7.
Figure 11 shows that the model accurately predicts the Force fluctuations in Figure 13 are due to nonsmooth angular
measured forces for the large scissors. This confirms that the movement of the scissor blade, causing switching between de-
cutting model is valid for different blade-edge curves, φ. formation and fracture. Such nonsmooth motion will occur for
any human user. Force fluctuations of Figure 7 might be due to
D. Evaluation of the Model for Haptic Rendering nonhomogeneous material and rupture phases. Therefore, the
The cutting model was used for haptic rendering of cutting frequency responses of the simulated force and experimental
with a pair of scissors in a virtual environment. The forces forces do not necessarily match at high frequencies.
were rendered by the “haptic scissors”, a haptic device devel- A formal human subject test is beyond scope of this work,
oped in our laboratory (Figure 12) [21]. The haptic scissors but users who tried the simulator expressed that the simulation
can render forces in two degrees of freedom: translational and realistically displayed the feeling of cutting homogeneous
rotational. The cutting algorithm is updated at 1 kHz by a objects. This indicates that incorporating the force-fluctuations
thread run under Windows 2000. The programmer can set the caused by rupture phases into the model may increase a user’s
force-displacement curve of the contact, the toughness of the ability to define the material type from simulation data.
material, the thickness of the plate, and the curve of the blades.
The force returned by the haptic device consisted of two V. C ONCLUSIONS
components which are computed separately and then added: We presented a computationally efficient analytical model
the force representing sharp scissor cutting, and a friction to calculate the force-angle responses of cutting of a thin
force. The friction force due to contact of the scissor blades plate of a material with a pair of scissors. The model con-
with each other is rendered using the stick-slide model of [22]. sidered the process of scissor cutting as a time sequence of
This model filters the measurement noise. The Coulomb fric- two different phases: deformation and sharp cutting. During
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 8

deformation phases, the force-angle

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fluctuations during cutting and investigating how they can be
incorporated into haptic simulation.

R EFERENCES Mohsen Mahvash received the Ph.D degree in elec-

trical engineering from McGill University, Montreal,
[1] H. Delingette, “Toward realistic soft-tissue modeling in medical simu- QC, Canada, in 2002. He was a postdoctoral fellow
lation,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 86, no. 3, pp. 512–523, 1998. at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD for
[2] R. M. Satava, “Accomplishments and challenges of surgical simulation,” two years. Mahvash is an assistant research professor
Journal of Surgical Endoscopy, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 232–341, 2001. at the Engineering Research Center for Computer
[3] C. R. Wagner, N. Stylopoulos, and R. D. Howe, “The role of force Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (ERC-
feedback in surgery: Analysis of blunt dissection,” in Proc. 10th Symp. CISST) at the Johns Hopkins University. His re-
on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems, search interests include haptics, teleoperation, med-
2002, pp. 68–78. ical robotics, physics-based modeling, and control.
[4] M. Mahvash, “Novel approach for modeling separation forces between
deformable bodies,” IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in
Biomedicine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 618–926, 2006.
[5] M. Mahvash and V. Hayward, “High fidelity haptic synthesis of contact
with deformable bodies,” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Liming M. Voo received his Ph.D. in Biomedical
vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 48–55, 2004. and Mechanical Engineering from the University of
[6] I. Browerand, J. Ustin, L. Bentley, A. Sherman, N. Dhruv, and Iowa at Iowa City, Iowa in 1995. Dr. Voo has over 20
F. Tendick, “Measuring in vivo animal soft tissue properties for haptic years of research experience in biomechanics related
modeling in surgical simulation,” Studies in Health Technology and to injury, surgery, orthopedics, personal protection,
Informatics, vol. 81, pp. 69–74, 2001. and automotive safety. He is currently a Senior
[7] M. P. Ottensmeyer and J. K. Salisbury, “In vivo data acquisition Research Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University
instrument for solid organ mechanical property measurement,” vol. 2208. Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD and an
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, 2001, pp. 975– Associate Research Professor in the Department
982. of Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins
[8] R. K. Mishra, “How do scissors work?” [Online]. Available: University, Baltimore, MD. Dr. Voo is a member of
http://www.laparoscopyhospital.com/PR03.HTM. the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and an active member of its
[9] M. Mahvash, V. Hayward, and J. E. Lloyd, “Haptic rendering of tool BioSolids committee.
contact,” in Proc. Eurohaptics, 2002, pp. 110–115.
[10] A. G. Atkins and Y.-W. Mai, Elastic and plastic fracture: metals, poly-
mers, ceramics, composites, biological materials, 1st ed. Chichester: Diana Kim received the B.S. degree in biomedical engineering from Johns
Ellis Halsted Press, 1985. Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, in 2006.
[11] M. Mahvash and V. Hayward, “Haptic rendering of cutting, a fracture
mechanics approach,” Haptics-e, the Electronic Journal of Haptics
Research, vol. 2, no. 3, November 2001.
[12] S. Greenish, V. Hayward, V. Chial, A. Okamura, and T. Steffen, “Mea- Kristin Jeung received the B.S. degree in biomedical engineering from Johns
surement, analysis and display of haptic signals during surgical cutting,” Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, in 2005.
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, vol. 6, no. 11, pp.
626–651, 2002.
[13] M. Mahvash and A. M. Okamura, “A fracture mechanics approach Joshua Wainer received the B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineer-
to haptic synthesis of tissue cutting with scissors,” in First Joint ing from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, in 2005
Eurohaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual
Environment and Teleoperator Systems (World Haptics), Pisa, Italy,
March 2005, pp. 356–362.
[14] A. G. Atkins, X. Xu, and G. Jeronimidis, “Cutting, by pressing and Allison M. Okamura (S’98 - A’00) received the
slicing, of thin floppy slices of materials illustrated by experiments on B.S. degree from the University of California at
cheddar cheese and salami,” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 39, no. 8, Berkeley, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
pp. 2761–2766, 2004. Stanford University, in 1994, 1996, and 2000, re-
[15] B. W. Darvell, P. K. Lee, T. D. Yuen, and P. W. Lucas, “A portable spectively, all in mechanical engineering. She is
fracture toughness tester for biological materials,” Measurement Science an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
and Technology, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 954–962, 1996. at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
[16] B. P. Pereira, P. W. Lucas, and S.-H. T, “Ranking the fracture toughness Her research interests include haptics, teleoperation,
of thin mammalian soft tissues using the scissors cutting test,” Journal robot-assisted surgery, tissue modeling and simu-
of Biomechanics, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 91–94, 1997. lation, rehabilitation robotics, and prosthetics. Dr.
[17] M. Heverly, P. Dupont, and J. Triedman, “Trajectory optimization for Okamura received a 2004 National Science Founda-
dynamic needle insertion,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International tion CAREER Award, and the 2005 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
Conference on Robotics, Barcelona, Spain, 2005, pp. 1658–1663. Early Academic Career Award.