Development & Evaluation of Virtual Reality (VR) based Novel Vision System for the da Vinci Surgical Robot

Abstract

Background: Robot surgery has become prevalent because of its various advantages as a progressive method based on empirical researches of conventional open surgery and minimally invasive surgery. However, the da Vinci surgical robot system, the most widely used and researched surgical robot, still requires an ergonomic improvement because of the uncomfortable posture in which it has to be operated. The stereo viewer—the current vision system of the da Vinci surgical robot—requires a user to maintain a posture wherein the user is looking down, which causes discomfort and results in musculoskeletal disorders. To overcome this limitation, a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) is proposed by previous researchers as an appropriate option to replace the stereo viewer, as it enables surgeons to move freely during surgery instead of having to look down on the stereo viewer. Presently, there is no direct comparison between the stereo viewer and a VR HMD by surgeons. Comparative evaluations were performed using peg transfer tasks, a questionnaire, and a NASA-Task Load Index (TLX). These were planned and performed by surgeons and novices to determine if the stereo viewer can be replaced by the VR HMD and to investigate whether the VR HMD has ergonomic.Results: Based on the results of peg transfer tasks, completion times when using VR HMD were shorter than those when using the stereo viewer. In these tasks, the participants performed more executions using the VR HMD compared to the stereo viewer. Based on the questionnaire, the participants favored the VR HMD compared to the stereo viewer, with respect to its visual and ergonomic performance. The modified NASA-TLX showed positive perceptions for the VR HMD.Conclusions: This comparative evaluation confirmed that the VR HMD can be employed as a potential alternative for the stereo viewer in a surgical robot system to achieve ergonomic improvements. The VR HMD improved the task performance of the surgical robot system, and it provided an ergonomic operation environment.