A Novel Haptic Simulator for Evaluating and Training Salient Force-Based Skills for Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopic surgery has evolved from an \u27alternative\u27 surgical technique to currently being considered as a mainstream surgical technique. However, learning this complex technique holds unique challenges to novice surgeons due to their \u27distance\u27 from the surgical site. One of the main challenges in acquiring laparoscopic skills is the acquisition of force-based or haptic skills. The neglect of popular training methods (e.g., the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery, i.e. FLS, curriculum) in addressing this aspect of skills training has led many medical skills professionals to research new, efficient methods for haptic skills training. The overarching goal of this research was to demonstrate that a set of simple, simulator-based haptic exercises can be developed and used to train users for skilled application of forces with surgical tools. A set of salient or core haptic skills that underlie proficient laparoscopic surgery were identified, based on published time-motion studies. Low-cost, computer-based haptic training simulators were prototyped to simulate each of the identified salient haptic skills. All simulators were tested for construct validity by comparing surgeons\u27 performance on the simulators with the performance of novices with no previous laparoscopic experience. An integrated, \u27core haptic skills\u27 simulator capable of rendering the three validated haptic skills was built. To examine the efficacy of this novel salient haptic skills training simulator, novice participants were tested for training improvements in a detailed study. Results from the study demonstrated that simulator training enabled users to significantly improve force application for all three haptic tasks. Research outcomes from this project could greatly influence surgical skills simulator design, resulting in more efficient training

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HAPTIC AND VISUAL FEEDBACK FOR KINESTHETIC TRAINING TASKS

Haptics is the sense of simulating and applying the sense of human touch. Application of touch sensations is done with haptic interface devices. The past few years has seen the development of several haptic interface devices with a wide variety of technologies used in their design. This thesis introduces haptic technologies and includes a survey of haptic interface devices and technologies. An improvement in simulating and applying touch sensation when using the Quanser Haptic Wand with proSense is suggested in this work using a novel five degree-of-freedom algorithm. This approach uses two additional torques to enhance the three degree-of-freedom of force feedback currently available with these products. Modern surgical trainers for performing laparoscopic surgery are incorporating haptic feedback in addition to visual feedback for training. This work presents a quantitative comparison of haptic versus visual training. One of the key results of the study is that haptic feedback is better than visual feedback for kinesthetic navigation tasks

A Five DOF Haptic Rendering Algorithm using Multiple Contact Points

With the proliferation of haptic devices, there has been significant research toward realistic haptic rendering of virtual environments. Currently, the majority of haptic devices provide only three degrees-of-freedom (3 DOF), but 5 and 6 DOF devices are becoming more common. This paper presents a method of using existing 3 DOF rendering techniques to produce forces for a 5 or 6 DOF device when true 6 DOF rendering is unavailable. Point-force 3 DOF rendering that is most commonly used in commercial haptic applications is simple and fast for basic haptic rendering; however, this creates unrealistic haptic effects when an avatar other than a point is considered. As a solution, a 6 DOF force and torque algorithm is presented based on multiple contact points. Using the multi-point torque rendering approach, forces are rendered in three linear dimensions using existing 3 DOF algorithms, and up to three additional torque degrees-of-freedom are calculated based on the forces on multiple points. This capability enhances haptic realism without modifying the legacy rendering. Finally, this algorithm is demonstrated using a 5 DOF haptic interface. The results from test observations suggest that the 5 DOF rendering algorithm functions as expected

Perceptually Salient Haptic Rendering for Enhancing Kinesthetic Perception in Virtual Environments

Kinesthetic or dynamic touch involves the use of muscle sensitivity to perceive mechanical properties of objects that are gripped in the hand and wielded in space. Many previous studies with real objects have investigated the mechanical properties that underlie human haptic perception. Few virtual environments, however, have systematically incorporated the relevant mechanical parameters underlying kinesthetic perception. In this study, the ability of a haptic device to render kinesthetic information regarding the inertial properties of virtual objects was tested. Results suggest that users were able to perceive length of rendered virtual objects via the haptic device. Further, users can be trained using the haptic device to increase sensitivity to specific mechanical parameters (like inertia) that are perceptually salient in perceiving properties of rendered objects. The primary implication of this finding is that rendering kinesthetic parameters and employing feedback in a systematic manner may increase the realism of virtual environments and also improve haptic perception