Design and validation of looping assistance methods in robotic‐assisted neonatal surgical suturing in a chest model

Abstract

Abstract Background Neonate patients have a reduced thoracic cavity, making thoracoscopic procedures even more challenging than their adult counterparts. Methods We evaluated five control strategies for robot‐assisted thoracoscopic surgical looping in simulations and experiments with a physical robotic system in a neonate surgical phantom. The strategies are composed of state‐of‐the‐art constrained optimization and a novel looping force feedback term. Results All control strategies allowed users to successfully perform looping. A user study in simulation showed that the proposed strategy was superior in terms of Physical demand and task duration . The cumulative sum analysis of inexperienced users shows that the proposed looping force feedback can speed up the learning. Results with surgeons did not show a significant difference among control strategies. Conclusions Assistive strategies in looping show promise and further work is needed to extend these benefits to other subtasks in robot‐aided surgical suturing.