Rozeboom Esther, Ruiter Jeroen, Franken Michel, Broeders Ivo
Minimal Invasive Surgery and Interventions, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands,
Surg Endosc. 2014 Sep;28(9):2600-5. doi: 10.1007/s00464-014-3510-1. Epub 2014 Mar 27.
Flexible endoscopes are increasingly used to perform advanced intraluminal and transluminal interventions. These complex interventions demand accurate and efficient control, however, current endoscopes lack intuitiveness and ergonomic control of the endoscope tip. Alternative handheld controllers can improve intuitiveness and ergonomics, though previous studies are inconclusive concerning their effect on the efficiency of endoscope manipulation. The aim of this study is to determine the efficiency of a robotic system with intuitive user interface in controlling the tip of the flexible endoscope.
We compared the efficiency of time and tip trajectory when steering the endoscope tip using the conventional steering wheels and a robotic platform with three different user interfaces: a touchpad in combination with a position control algorithm, a joystick combined with linear rate control, and a joystick combined with non-linear rate control. Fourteen participants, without a medical background, used all four interfaces. They performed both large navigational and fine targeting tasks in a simulated environment which allowed objective cross-subject comparison. Afterward, the participants were asked to select their preferred steering method.
Participants were significantly faster in steering the endoscope tip when using robotic steering compared to using the conventional steering method. Between the robotic interfaces, using the touchpad was significantly faster compared to the joystick with linear rate control. Use of the joystick with non-linear rate control led to a shorter tip trajectory compared to the touchpad. The majority of participants preferred the joystick with non-linear rate control over the other steering methods.
This work shows that intuitive user interfaces can improve the efficiency of endoscope tip steering.
可弯曲内镜越来越多地用于进行先进的腔内和跨腔介入操作。这些复杂的操作需要精确而高效的控制，然而，目前的内镜缺乏对内镜尖端直观且符合人体工程学的控制。替代性的手持控制器可以提高直观性和人体工程学特性，尽管先前的研究对于它们对内镜操作效率的影响尚无定论。本研究的目的是确定具有直观用户界面的机器人系统在控制可弯曲内镜尖端方面的效率。
我们比较了使用传统方向盘以及具有三种不同用户界面的机器人平台操控内镜尖端时的时间效率和尖端轨迹：结合位置控制算法的触摸板、结合线性速率控制的操纵杆以及结合非线性速率控制的操纵杆。14名没有医学背景的参与者使用了所有四种界面。他们在模拟环境中执行了大型导航和精细靶向任务，这使得能够进行客观的跨受试者比较。之后，要求参与者选择他们偏好的操控方法。
与使用传统操控方法相比，参与者使用机器人操控时操控内镜尖端的速度明显更快。在机器人界面之间，使用触摸板比使用线性速率控制的操纵杆明显更快。与触摸板相比，使用非线性速率控制的操纵杆导致尖端轨迹更短。大多数参与者更喜欢非线性速率控制的操纵杆而非其他操控方法。
这项工作表明直观的用户界面可以提高内镜尖端操控的效率。
