Immersive head-mounted control of a robotic laparoscopic camera: a usability and accuracy evaluation

Robotic surgery has addressed limitations of minimally invasive surgery, namely: assistant hand tremors during camera holding and communication errors among team members. However, advanced systems require substantial investment and operating-room space. As a result, recent studies have explored laparoscopic camera control through virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) devices, though their usability and accuracy relative to existing solutions remain unclear. This study presents a novel immersive framework using an Oculus Quest 3 headset to control a KUKA LBR iiwa robot, comparing its accuracy and time-response (TR). Moreover, its usability was compared against two state-of-art controllers: Image1Pilot and SoloAssist Joystick. TR was measured by moving the VR headset with one robot while a second robot reproduced the transmitted motion. Tracking accuracy was assessed via a four-point trajectory, using simultaneously measurements from the VR, robot flange, and an optical tracking system. Usability and task performance were assessed in 35 participants using a camera-control task and the System Usability Scale (SUS). Results showed an average TR of 143.10 ± 28.50ms, and a maximum positional error of 12.60 mm over a 150 mm displacement. SUS scores revealed no statistically significant differences in usability across interfaces (H = 0.174, p = 0.917). All achieved an "Acceptable" rating (SUS ≈ 70). In the 3rd trial, The Image1Pilot enabled significantly faster task completion than the VR interface ([Formula: see text]), though no significant difference versus the SoloAssist Joystick. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that VR control for laparoscopic cameras can be compared to existing joysticks in terms of usability, but its control method requires further refinement to reduce task completion time.