Laparoscopic skill measurement with COP to realize a HAM Scrub Nurse Robot system

The main purpose of this study is to develop a way in order to measure laparoscopic skills using center of pressure (COP). This study is intended to contribute for the development of a scrub nurse robot (SNR) system. SNR is an alternative of a human scrub nurse which hands surgical instruments to surgeons and receives them back. One of the important ideas of the SNR system is based on the concept of "human adaptive mechatronics (HAM)". In the case of surgical applications, the HAM system will allow every surgeons to accomplish faster, safer and more precise surgery irrespective of his skill level by changing its manner of operations according as his skill level. In this scenario, it is very important to estimate the operator\´s skill level correctly. In the laparoscopic surgery, an operating surgeon does not move his position widely, so a force platform which measures fluctuations of his COP is good candidate for a device to estimate his skill level in the operating room. In order to show the relation, three different training tasks were performed by three subjects who have never performed laparoscopic operations, and COP data were measured simultaneously. Then, two experts and two novices perform another experiment to show the possibility of constructing a HAM-SNR system using COP as a laparoscopic skill level measurement system.