Understanding the challenges and needs of knee arthroscopy surgeons to inform the design of surgical robots

Current surgical procedures need to be properly understood before designing robotic platforms for surgery, so that the strengths of robotic systems can cover and enhance the capabilities of the surgeon, which will create better patient outcomes. The aim of our research is to explore the potential of robotic assistance in arthroscopic knee surgery, which is one of the most common elective surgeries undertaken. We observed and video-recorded 15 arthroscopic knee surgeries performed by four orthopaedic surgeons and conducted interviews with two of these surgeons to gain further insight and clarification. Our findings highlight the challenges experienced by surgeons: (1) frustration with instruments, (2) visibility challenges, and (3) ergonomic, cognitive, social, and cooperative work demands. Furthermore, we identified the following needs: flexible distal end of instruments and better visualisation of instruments. With this knowledge we plan to develop a video card game, which, with the collaboration of orthopaedic surgeons, will be used to design an interface for a robotic surgical assistant to help alleviate these challenges.