Discussion about training effects of haptic guide function for endoscopic forceps operation

At present, some training tools for endoscopic surgery have been commercialized such as box simulator and virtual training simulator. These training tools enable a trainee to practice various operation without any risks of a patient and have been utilized by unskilled surgeons in medical institutions. However, more effective training environments have been required by the doctors who engage in medical education. Then this study focuses on the importance of improving fundamental operation skills in an operating room. Because, most of human tissues, such as blood vessels, organs, and nerves, are easily bruised by surgical tools. Due to the structural particularity of endoscopic forceps makes us difficult to only move the tip of forceps on a straight line. Hence, this study suggests a haptic guide function that dynamically controls the position of forceps to the appropriate direction in the forceps operation. In this paper, the system structure and the control methods of forceps control devices are firstly described. The training effects of our proposed system will be discussed by reviewing the experimental results.