Ensuring communication redundancy and establishing a telementoring system for robotic telesurgery using multiple...

Area of Science:

• Medical Technology
• Surgical Robotics
• Telecommunications

Background:

• Robotic telesurgery requires robust communication for telementoring and mainstream adoption.
• Establishing reliable teaching environments for surgeons is crucial for advancing telesurgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the redundancy and reliability of robotic telesurgery telementoring using standard telecommunication carriers.
• To evaluate if multiple carriers can guarantee communication redundancy during interruptions.

Main Methods:

• A telementoring system was established between two hospitals 150 km apart using three commercial optical fiber lines.
• 18 participants performed robotic telesurgery with telementoring, with communication lines intentionally interrupted and restored.
• Objective indices (operation time, errors) and subjective questionnaires (image quality, operability) were used for evaluation.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in task completion time or error counts was found between local surgeons and those under remote telementoring.
• Subjective feedback indicated no significant differences in image quality or surgical operability.
• Combining multiple communication lines demonstrated guaranteed redundancy, with minimal environmental change switch activations across different provider combinations.

Conclusions:

• Multiple commercial telecommunication lines effectively guarantee communication redundancy for robotic telesurgery telementoring.
• This approach enhances communication security and supports the development of remote surgical training environments.