Minimizing Movement Time in Surgical Telerobotic Tasks

Abstract

Surgical robotic devices are rapidly achieving widespread use and acceptance. Despite the many benefits of robotic-assisted surgery, it is typical for robot-assisted procedures to take longer. This study investigates the effect of control:response ratio on simple movement time in surgical telerobotic tasks. Robot control interfaces offer “motion scaling”settings but, in practice, this feature is often not used effectively, and is confounded by factors such as the fulcrum point of the laparoscopic instrument. Results using a simple aimed movement task indicate that control:response ratio indeed has a large effect on movement time, and further that it interacts with task difficulty. These results can guide medical device designers and the developers of surgical training protocols.