  Mechanical properties of biological tissue for both histological and
pathological considerations are often required in disease diagnostics. Such
properties can be simulated and explored with haptic technology. Development of
cost effective haptic-based simulators and their introduction in the minimally
invasive surgery learning cycle is still in its infancy. Receiving pretraining
in a core set of surgical skills can reduce skill acquisition time and risks.
We present the development of a visuo-haptic simulator module designed to train
internal organs disease diagnostics through palpation. The module is part of a
set of tools designed to train and improve basic surgical skills for minimally
invasive surgery.
