Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Twelve
Robotic-Assisted Technology for Medical
Training Purposes
Jorge Solis
∗
,†
and Atsuo Takanishi
∗
,†
∗
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
†
Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
In recent years, thanks to the introduction of Robotic Technology (RT) in the
medical field, advanced surgical tools have been developed to support surgeons
in order to enhance their skills to assure the consistency and reliability while per-
forming surgical tasks. More recently, several researchers have been developing
medical training systems designed to transfer motor skills to unskilled subjects.
As a result of this research field, robotic-assisted training devices (referred as
Active
Training
) are capable of providing objective assessment and multimodal feedback
while the conventional training devices (referred as
Passive Training
) are limited in
providing subjective assessment and unimodal feedback.
12.1 MOTOR CONTROL AND LEARNING
Humans are capable of performing an impressive variety of movements that range
from simple movements, such as looking at an object of interest by turning the
head and eyes, to complex and intricate series of movements, such as executing
a triple axel on ice. These movements are improved over an extensive period
of practice. This iterative process, known as motor learning involves execut-
ing movements, identifying errors, and correcting those errors in subsequent
movements. Motor learning affects many different components of sensory and
motor processing. Motor control involves both simple movement trajectories and
complex series of movements in which multiple muscles and joints need to be
controlled in a precise manner.
To behaviorists such as Skinner (1938), motor control is an environmental
stimulus followed by a resulting response. Several models of classical information
processing have been proposed to describe how this process occurs. Psychologists
have broken down stimulus-response into three stages (Wickens, 1984). Perceptual
