Advanced Technique for Tele-operated Surgery Using an Intelligent Head-mount Display System

Abstract

Recent medical-robotic developments have enabled tele-surgery to become a powerful treatment option when a surgeon is not available locally. But, even though tele-surgery has greatly improved, certain developments regarding the interaction between a surgeon and the remote surgical room is still in need of improvement, especially image display and camera movement. First, the use of two-dimensional imaging during tele-surgery causes a loss in depth perception, orientation and hand-eye disassociation. Likewise, the use of stationary screens can cause neck-strain to a surgeon. Also, the quality of data transmission during the real-time video streaming of a tele-surgery is a high priority issue. To approach these issues, we propose a new head-mounted device that provides a more ergonomic and intuitive feeling to tele-operational surgeons. This device allows them to naturally control the view of the camera via head movement, hence providing a three-dimensional view. And by enabling the head-mount display to provide the remote surgical camera with orientation information, our application-level Quality of Service framework can adjust image quality to prevent excess delay and jitter during robotic tele-surgical video. Thus, our device can provide high quality video, as well as a more natural and ergonomic feeling to performing tele-operated surgery.