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During robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery, teleoperation systems allow surgeons to perform operations at a distance via instruments inserted through small incisions in the body, thereby minimizing patient pain and recovery time. While the patient-side manipulator allows precise, dexterous gripping and manipulation by the surgical tools, current clinical systems provide the surgeon with limited haptic feedback about tool-environment interactions. This differs from direct grasp and manipulation of hand-held objects, during which we receive feedback that provides cues regarding object surface properties, slip, and load force. We use a custom research version of the da Vinci Surgical System to study the control of grip force during teleoperated manipulation of an elastic environment. We tested a placement task that involved stretching of a rubber band, with and without feedback of the patient-side load forces to the user. We hypothesized that there is greater coupling between the applied grip force and the patient-side load force when force feedback is provided, as is observed during direct manipulation of hand-held objects. With an experienced surgeon user, coupling between the applied grip force and the load force was greater with force feedback than without.
Gibo et al. (Sat,) studied this question.