Vibrotactile Feedback Enhances Force Perception in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract

Distorted force feedback in minimally invasive surgery causes the procedure to become more difficult for the surgeon. A simulated tissue probing task was desgined to test the hypothesis that vibrotactile feedback can enhance one's ability to differentiate tissue softness, and control the forces being applied to tissue. The two independent factors in the study were vibration feedback, consisting of four levels (continuous, fine-step, crude-step, and no vibration), and audibility, consisting of two levels (on and off). The results demonstrated that with the aide of vibration the absolute probing depth error was reduced (5.7mm – no vibration, 3.65mm — fine step), and the average maximum force applied was reduced (1.32 N — no vibration, 1.04 N — fine step). Additionally, the normalized time to detection (0.93s/s audible, 1.10s/s non-audible) and maximum force (1.16 N — non-audible, 1.08 N — audible) was reduced in the audible condition. These results indicate that vibrotactile stimulation is a viable substitute for force feedback in simulated minimally invasive surgery.