An Experimental Modular Instrument With a Haptic Feedback Framework for Robotic Surgery Training

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modular robotic surgical instrument with a real-time haptic feedback system that improves force perception and task performance during training.

Contribution

It presents a novel wrist-mounted force sensor and a stable haptic feedback framework integrated into a robotic surgery training system.

Findings

Haptic feedback significantly improves task success rate.

Force regulation accuracy is enhanced with haptic feedback.

Task efficiency increases when using the haptic system.

Abstract

Robotic-assisted surgery offers significant clinical advantages but largely eliminates direct haptic feedback, increasing the risk of excessive tool-tissue interaction forces. Although recent commercial systems have begun to introduce force feedback, their high cost limits accessibility, particularly for surgical training. This paper presents a modular experimental robotic laparoscopic instrument integrated with a real-time haptic feedback framework. The proposed instrument employs a wrist-mounted force/torque (F/T) sensor to estimate tool-tissue interaction forces while avoiding the durability and integration challenges of tip-mounted sensors. A haptic feedback framework is developed to extract the external contact forces, render them to the haptic device, and generate stable and perceptually meaningful feedback. The instrument is integrated into the robotic surgery training system (RoboScope) and evaluated through a controlled user study involving a force regulation task. Experimental results demonstrate that haptic feedback significantly improves task success rate, force regulation accuracy, and task efficiency compared to visual-only feedback. The proposed instrument enables stable, high-fidelity haptic interaction, supporting effective robotic surgery training.