Multimedia tele-surgery using high speed optical fiber network and its application to intravascular neurosurgery - system configuration and computer networked robotic implementation

We propose a multimedia tele-surgery system for training, diagnosis, and assistance in surgery. To realize this system, a high speed optical fiber network with asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is used to provide high quality moving pictures. We designed a new teleoperation system based on ATM, which is different from the conventional one that is based on Ethernet. We built a prototype of the virtual simulator system for the intravascular neurosurgery that consists of a 3D-computer graphics simulator and two types of joysticks. The joysticks are used for the controller and force display of catheter head direction, position, and orientation. A visual assistance method is proposed to assist the operator. We performed teleoperation experiments between Nagoya and Tokyo, about 350 km apart from each other, using high speed optical fiber network, and evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed system.