Intuitive operability evaluation of robotic surgery using brain activity measurements to clarify immersive reality

Surgical robots have undergone considerable improvement in recent years. But intuitive operability, which represents user interoperability, has not been quantitatively evaluated. With the aim of designing a robot with intuitive operability, we thus propose a method for measuring brain activity to determine intuitive operability. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the master configuration against the position of the monitor that best allows user to perceive the manipulator as part of his own body. We assume that the master configuration provides immersive reality to user as if he puts own arm into the monitor. In our experiments, subjects controlled the hand controller to position the tip of the virtual slave manipulator on a target in the surgical simulator and we measured brain activity using brain imaging devices. We carried out experiments a number of times with the master manipulator configured in a variety of ways and the position of the monitor fixed. We found that the brain was significantly activated in all subjects when the master manipulator was located behind the monitor. We concluded that the master configuration produces immersive reality through body images related to visual and somatic sensory feedback.