title: Control devices and steering strategies in pathway surgery.
abstract: For pathway surgery, that is, minimally invasive procedures carried out transluminally or through instrument-created pathways, handheld maneuverable instruments are being developed. As the accompanying control interfaces of such instruments have not been optimized for intuitive manipulation, we investigated the effect of control mode (1DoF or 2DoF), and control device (joystick or handgrip) on human performance in a navigation task. The experiments were conducted using the Endo-PaC (Endoscopic-Path Controller), a simulator that emulates the shaft and handle of a maneuverable instrument, combined with custom-developed software animating pathway surgical scenarios. Participants were asked to guide a virtual instrument without collisions toward a target located at the end of a virtual curved tunnel. The performance was assessed in terms of task completion time, path length traveled by the virtual instrument, motion smoothness, collision metrics, subjective workload, and personal preference. The results indicate that 2DoF control leads to faster task completion and fewer collisions with the tunnel wall combined with a strong subjective preference compared with 1DoF control. Handgrip control appeared to be more intuitive to master than joystick control. However, the participants experienced greater physical demand and had longer path lengths with handgrip than joystick control.
authors.affiliation: Department BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, the Netherlands. Electronic address: c.fan@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Chunman
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jelínek
authors.affiliation: Department BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dimitra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dodou
authors.affiliation: Department BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Breedveld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Control method; Minimally invasive surgery; Steerable instruments; Steering strategies