Brain activation in parietal area during manipulation with a surgical robot simulator

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Robotics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Master-slave surgical robots offer remote manipulation capabilities.
• Quantifying the sense of embodiment in robotic surgery is crucial for user performance and safety.
• Physical differences between master and slave robots can affect user embodiment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the sense of embodiment in surgical robot manipulation.
• To measure brain activity, specifically intraparietal sulcus activation, in response to varying physical differences in surgical robots.
• To explore how changes in the optical axis-to-target view angle affect embodiment and hand-eye coordination.

Main Methods:

• Utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopic topography (f-NIRS) to monitor brain activity.
• Seven subjects performed simulated surgical tasks involving needle insertion.
• Experiments varied the optical axis-to-target view angle to alter manipulator appearance and assess embodiment.

Main Results:

• A significant peak in brain activation was observed in some participants at a 75° optical axis-to-target view angle (P=0.037).
• This suggests a specific angle may enhance the user's sense of embodiment during robotic surgery.

Conclusions:

• The 75° optical axis-to-target view angle appears to create a positional relationship between manipulators and the endoscope that closely mimics natural human hand-eye coordination.
• This finding has implications for optimizing surgical robot design to improve user embodiment and surgical performance.