Haptics for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) holds great promise for improving the accuracy and dexterity of a surgeon while minimizing trauma to the patient. However, widespread clinical success with RMIS has been marginal and it is hypothesized by engineers and surgeons alike that the lack of haptic feedback presented to the surgeon is a limiting factor. The objective of our research is to acquire, display, and determine the utility of haptic information during RMIS. This overview paper examines the design, analysis, practicality, and effectiveness of various force estimation and display methods. In particular, we describe our experience in adding force feedback to an experimental version of the da Vinci surgical system, a commercially available teleoperated RMIS system.