Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
been recognized by several research groups and many of the companies working in this
area (for example, Immersion Medical, Surgical Science, Mentice, and Reachin Tech-
nologies). The rapid increase in the number of papers on haptics and surgical simulation
published in international conference proceedings in the last five years indicates haptics'
growing importance, although this rate of growth is not commensurate with the amount
of research that has been undertaken in the realm of interface devices, algorithms, or even
surgical training with and without haptics.
Telesurgical tasks require high dexterity, fidelity, and virtually authentic haptic feedback
during manipulation since most of it is delicate so it therefore follows that the design
requirements for teleoperation controllers need to be significantly different to those in
classical teleoperation applications. An important component of the teleoperator design is
the quantification of human operator sensitivity and performance.
Figures 10.9 and 10.10 show several telesurgical concepts in which the surgeon is
physically separated from the workspace.
Patient
cart
Anesthesiologist
Vision
cart
Assistant
Nurse
Force feedback
Tactile feedback
Surgeon at
console
Figure 10.9
Telesurgical system concept. In this concept, surgeon is connected to the system
by means of console which provides the surgeon with vision, and master controls which translate
the surgeon's hand, wrist, and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical
instruments. The robotic arms in the patient cart are equipped with surgical instruments and let
every surgical maneuver be under the direct control of the surgeon (See Plate 19)
