The Surgeon-Robot Interface for Controlling the Position of a Laparoscope

Abstract

Robotic laparoscope positioners are now accepted and expected as assistant devices for solo surgeryamong endoscopic surgeons. In such robotic systems, the human-machine (surgeon-robot) interface is ofparamount importance because it is the means by which the surgeon communicates with and controls therobotic camera assistant. Various types of human-machine interfaces such as remote hand switches, instrument-mounted joysticks, foot pedals, voice recognition, head/face control and instrument tracking havebeen suggested, and their effectiveness has been discussed individually. This paper attempts to bring togetherthe human-machine interface in robotic camera positioning systems that have been devised in the last tenyears. I herein organize the survey by breaking the laparoscope positioning systems into the following threetypes based on the view of “autonomy” :(i) non-autonomous systems, (ii) semi-autonomous systems, and (iii) full-autonomous systems.