A Method for Estimating Doctor's Fatigue Level in Operating a Surgical Robot Using Wearable Sensors

Abstract

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery, such as the da Vinci Surgical System, has a problem in that surgeons might continue operating for a long period of time without realizing their fatigue and without proper concentration, or they might ignore their fatigue even when they notice it. We propose a method for quantitatively estimating the level fatigue by attaching wearable sensors to a doctor while using a surgical robot. In this study, several sensor configurations were tested to investigate the sensor configuration, which is easy for the surgeon to wear. In an evaluation experiment, doctors used a robotic surgery simulator for a long period of time, and the score calculated by the simulator was estimated as the fatigue level expressed by the surgeon. We discussed with doctors how the results of the fatigue estimation should be applied to the system design.