Multi-Sensory Guidance and Feedback for Simulation-Based Training in Robot Assisted Surgery: A Preliminary Comparison of Visual, Haptic, and Visuo-Haptic

Nowadays, robot assisted surgery training relies more and more on computer-based simulation. However, the application of such training technologies is still limited to the early stages of practical training. To broaden the usefulness of simulators, multi-sensory feedback augmentation has been recently investigated. This study aims at combining initial predictive (guidance) and subsequent error-based (feedback) training augmentation in the visual and haptic domain. 32 participants performed 30 repetitions of a virtual reality task resembling needle-driving by using the surgeon console of the da Vinci Research Kit. These trainees were randomly and equally divided into four groups: one group had no training augmentation, while the other groups underwent visual, haptic and visuo-haptic augmentation, respectively. Results showed a significant improvement, initially introduced by guidance, in the task completion capabilities of all the experimental groups against control. In terms of accuracy, the experimental groups outperformed the control group at the end of training. Specifically, visual guidance and haptic feedback played a significant role in error reduction. Further investigations on long term learning could better delineate the optimal combination of guidance and feedback in these sensory domains.