Verification of delay time and image compression thresholds for telesurgery

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Surgical Technology
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Telerobotic surgery requires reliable communication, facing challenges from network delays and video compression.
• Verifying communication conditions is essential to determine acceptable network specifications for telerobotic procedures.
• Understanding limits of delay and video degradation is key for safe remote surgeries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the acceptable network specification values for telerobotic surgery.
• To evaluate the impact of delay times and video compression on surgical feasibility and operability.
• To assess the performance of the hinotori™ surgical robot under various network conditions.

Main Methods:

• Eight surgeons performed gastrectomy or rectal resection on pigs using the hinotori™ surgical robot.
• Image compression levels (10-120 Mbps) and delay times (30-150 ms) were systematically varied.
• Surgeons and evaluators provided subjective and objective ratings on image degradation and operability.

Main Results:

• Surgery was feasible at delay times of 30 ms (avg. rating 3.6) and 50 ms (avg. rating 4.0).
• Delays of 100 ms (avg. rating 2.9) and 150 ms (avg. rating 2.3) rendered surgery largely infeasible.
• Image compression was acceptable down to 10 Mbps (avg. rating 4.0), with higher bitrates (20-120 Mbps) also rated highly (≥4.0).

Conclusions:

• The hinotori™ surgical robot can be used safely in remote robotic surgery.
• Current image compression and delay time parameters are largely acceptable for telerobotic procedures.
• Network performance verification is critical for ensuring safe and effective remote surgeries.