**2.3 Research and development of a haptic force feedback joystick**

In the first instance, the steerable catheter described in 2.2. was actuated with a commercial available low cost force feedback joystick. This kind of joysticks is typically used for playing computer games like flight simulators to achieve a more realistic gaming experience. The position of the joystick is sensed with potentiometers and haptic force feedback is generated by DC motors. An interface was developed under National Instruments Labview to read in the joystick coordinates and to apply forces with the DC motors. First tests revealed that the precision of the force feedback motors is rather insufficient and cannot be precisely controlled and the maximum torque is rather low. A precise force feedback comparable to operator experiences when using an expensive haptic input device like the Phantom is not possible with this kind of joystick.

For the control of the catheter a device is necessary that allows:

