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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Connected Health
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1428534
This article is part of the Research Topic VR, AR, MR in Healthcare: The Role of Immersive Technologies in Medical Training View all articles

A Novel Affordable User Interface for Robotic Surgery Training: Design, Development and Usability Study

Provisionally accepted
Alberto Neri Alberto Neri 1,2*Mara Coduri Mara Coduri 2,3Veronica Penza Veronica Penza 1Andrea Santangelo Andrea Santangelo 1Alessandra Oliveri Alessandra Oliveri 2Enrico Turco Enrico Turco 1Mattia Pizzirani Mattia Pizzirani 4Elisa Trinceri Elisa Trinceri 4Domenico Soriero Domenico Soriero 5Federico Boero Federico Boero 4Serena Ricci Serena Ricci 2,3Leonardo S. Mattos Leonardo S. Mattos 1
  • 1 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy
  • 2 Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, School of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
  • 3 Simulation and Advanced Education Center, University of Genova, Via Pastore 3, Genova, Italy
  • 4 FOS spa, Via E. Melen 77, Genova, Italy
  • 5 San Martino Hospital (IRCCS), Genova, Liguria, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The use of robotic systems in the surgical domain has become groundbreaking for patients and surgeons in the last decades. While the annual number of robotic surgical procedures continues to increase rapidly, it is essential to provide the surgeon with innovative training courses along with the standard specialization path. To this end, simulators play a fundamental role. Currently, the high cost of the leading VR simulators limits their accessibility to educational institutions. The challenge lies in balancing high-fidelity simulation with cost-effectiveness; however, few cost-effective options exist for robotic surgery training. This paper proposes the design, development and user-centered usability study of an affordable user interface to control a surgical robot simulator. It consists of a cart equipped with two haptic interfaces, a VR visor and two pedals. The simulations were created using Unity, which offers versatility for expanding the simulator to more complex scenes. An intuitive teleoperation control of the simulated robotic instruments is achieved through a high-level control strategy. Its affordability and resemblance to real surgeon consoles make it ideal for implementing robotic surgery training programs in medical schools, enhancing accessibility to a broader audience. This is demonstrated by the results of an usability study involving expert surgeons who use surgical robots regularly, expert surgeons without robotic surgery experience, and a control group. The results of the study, which was based on a traditional Peg-board exercise and Camera Control task, demonstrate the simulator's high usability and intuitive control across diverse user 1, including those with limited experience. This offers evidence that this affordable system is a promising solution for expanding robotic surgery training.

    Keywords: Surgical simulator, surgical robot, virtual reality, teleoperation, medical training

    Received: 06 May 2024; Accepted: 16 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Neri, Coduri, Penza, Santangelo, Oliveri, Turco, Pizzirani, Trinceri, Soriero, Boero, Ricci and Mattos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alberto Neri, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.