title: Assessing surgeon and novice force skill on a haptic stiffness simulator for laparoscopic surgery.
abstract: Though several simulators and training methods are available for basic laparoscopic skills, few have addressed force-based skills. In this work, we discuss a haptic simulator that renders virtual materials of different stiffness profiles to be used for haptic skills differentiation. A force-based task was designed on the simulator and the performance of surgeons and novices was analyzed. Results indicate that surgeons and novices differ in their ability to use the haptic device to reproduce target stiffness levels. This work provides an important step towards quantifying haptic skill metrics for the design of surgical skills training simulators.
authors.affiliation: Haptic Interaction Lab, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Ravikiran B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Singapogu
authors.forename: Dane E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Bliss M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Altenhoff
authors.forename: Lindsay O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Varun V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Prabhu
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Pagano
authors.forename: Timothy C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Burg
authors.forename: Karen J K L
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Burg
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D010820:Physicians; D013337:Students, Medical; D055698:Touch Perception; D014584:User-Computer Interface