Hierarchical spatial hashing‐based collision detection and hybrid collision response in a haptic surgery simulator

Background Collision detection and response are two crucial aspects in a virtual surgery simulator, which significantly affect the output in real‐time response and simulation realism. Methods We propose a collision detection algorithm which employs a novel hierarchical spatial hashing to effectively achieve appropriate parameters. Thereafter we present a hybrid collision response scheme which takes the advantages of three traditional methods and introduces a ‘force filter’ to obtain more realistic feedback force. Results The average performance of our proposed collision detection has been improved by 15.65% against the traditional method. After collision response processing the smoothness of feedback force has been greatly enhanced, and this indicates a more realistic feedback force without restricting the range of force inputs. Conclusions The experimental results reveal that the proposed approaches can achieve the real‐time response and simulation realism required by a haptic surgery simulator. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.