Virtual Reality-based Control of Robotic Endoscope in Laparoscopic Surgery

Robotic laparoscopic surgery has provided various benefits, but during the surgery, the surgeons are experiencing uncomfortable positioning issue which leads to neck pain and back pain. So, for an enhanced & efficient ergonomic robot-assisted surgery, a novel virtual reality (VR)-based endoscope control system (ECS) is proposed in this research. The overall system in this study is composed of a da Vinci research kit (dVRK), 4-degree-of-freedom ECS, three-dimensional endoscope, and VR headset with a built-in attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) module. Also, the proposed VR headset could replace a stereo viewer in the dVRK which could reduce the size of surgical robot system. Furthermore, the three dimensional endoscope could be controlled by a built-in AHRS module in the VR headset. The proposed system has been verified with four novice volunteers. They showed rapid learning through the peg-transfer task. Additionally, a collision avoidance strategy for VR-based ECS control was developed and verified by performing computer-based simulations. The ergonomic VR-based ECS proposed in this research could greatly reduce surgeon’s pains in both neck and back which potentially reduce surgeon’s workload during the surgery.