Control Modes of Teleoperated Surgical Robotic System's Tools in Ophthalmic Surgery

TL;DR

This study compares two control modes in a teleoperated ophthalmic surgical robot, finding that inside control mode and higher scaling factors improve precision and performance in simulated vitreoretinal tasks.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates two distinct control modes for ophthalmic robotic surgery, providing insights into their performance and optimal settings for enhanced surgical precision.

Findings

Inside Control Mode outperforms Outside Control Mode in key metrics.

Higher scaling factors improve precision and reduce tissue damage.

Control mode and scaling choices influence surgical accuracy and efficiency.

Abstract

The introduction of a teleoperated surgical robotic system designed for minimally invasive procedures enables the emulation of two distinct control modes through a dedicated input device of the surgical console: (1) Inside Control Mode, which emulates tool manipulation near the distal end as if the surgeon was holding the tip of the instrument inside the patient's body; (2) Outside Control Mode, which emulates manipulation near the proximal end as if the surgeon was holding the tool externally. The aim of this research is to compare the surgeon's performance on these two modes of operation along with various scaling factors in a simulated vitreoretinal surgical setting. The console of Intraocular Robotic Interventional Surgical System (IRISS) was utilized but the surgical robot itself and the human eye anatomy was simulated by a virtual environment projected microscope view of an intraocular setup to a VR headset. Five experienced vitreoretinal surgeons and five subjects with no surgical experience used the system to perform four fundamental tool/tissue tasks common to vitreoretinal surgery: touch and reset; grasp and drop; inject; circular tracking. Results indicate that Inside Control outperforms Outside Control across multiple tasks and metrics. Higher scaling factors generally performed better, particularly for reducing trajectory errors and tissue damage. This improvement suggests that larger scaling factors enable more precise control, making them the preferred option for fine manipulation. However, completion time was not consistently reduced across all conditions, indicating that surgeons need to balance speed and accuracy based on surgical requirements. By optimizing control dynamics and user interface, robotic teleoperation has the potential to reduce complications, enhance dexterity, and expand the accessibility of high precision procedures to a broader range of practitioners.