Haptics and Instrumentation for Robotic Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery is an alternative approach to open-heart surgery that has been developed to benefit patients by reducing the incision size required to access the heart. This approach requires dexterous manual and robotic instruments enabling the surgeons to perform the necessary tasks such as suturing. This research has investigated methodologies and established characteristics for manual instruments and robotic surgical systems to enhance suturing task quality and reduce the burden on the surgeon. The experimental results indicated the capabilities of the established methodologies in improving the manual and robotic suturing task performance.