In this paper, we introduce a new approach to virtual palpation for medical training in cyber worlds. We analyze palpation as a medical procedure. Then, we survey the existing virtual palpation projects, which use haptic devices, and propose a new image-driven approach to haptic palpation that can be easily ported to any web-enabled and collaborative environments. We also introduce variable haptic interaction point that allows us to implement multiple-point haptic interaction while using a single-point desktop haptic device. Lastly, we prove our hypothesis by implementing the proposed approach for abdominal palpation and validating it with medical practitioners. We also discuss the advantages of our method over other existing works in terms of flexibility, simplicity and scalability.
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