Teleoperation

Telerobotics can build on the advantages of minimally invasive surgery (such as being able to perform heart surgery without having to open the thorax) to achieve a number of advantages:

1. As the operation is performed using a surgical robot, there is no need for the operator to be in the same room as the patient. This means that the operator has to meet less stringent sterility requirements and that the operation can even be interrupted. A surgical procedure can even be carried out from somewhere else entirely, for example so that patients can benefit from specialists who are not locally available.
2. Heart surgery can also be performed without a heart-lung machine, which means the patient’s heart continues beating during surgery. This is achieved through an algorithm compensating the motion of the heart and presenting an image of a motionless heart to the operating surgeon.

^{Source: Basdogan, Sedef, Harders, Wesarg (2007), IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications}

Such procedures are currently performed based on visual information alone, i.e. without haptic feedback. The surgeon neither feels any resistance when cutting through tissue nor the tension of the thread when suturing.

^{DaVinci operator unit}

^{DaVinci teleoperator unit}

Experiments with different surgical robots and haptic feedback have been conducted to improve this method.

^{Surgical teleoperator of the German Aerospace Center}

Literature

Ortmaier, Tobias; Deml, Barbara; Kübler, Bernhard; Passig, Georg; Reintsema, Detlef; Seibold, Ulrich: Robot Assisted Force Feedback Surgery

The term extra-vehicular activity (EVA) collectively refers to all jobs performed by an astronaut in space outside the spacecraft. EVAs are considered dangerous because the astronaut has to leave the (relatively) safe environment inside the spacecraft and enter the vacuum of space with only a spacesuit for protection. For various reasons, the physical stress an astronaut is exposed to in this situation is high. Stress factors include exposure to the loud noise of the spacesuit’s built-in air-conditioning system, highly restricted movement due to the suit’s stiffness and a highly restricted field of vision due to the helmet.

Astronauts leave their spacecraft

• in order to put in place or retrieve measuring instruments, e.g. for measuring micrometeorites,
• for installation or repair jobs, e.g. on the ISS or on the Hubble space telescope,
• for scientific reasons,
• for testing new methods.

Preliminary Work at the Institute of Human Engineering

Weightlessness is simulated both during astronaut training and during underwater experiments. The university’s swimming pool was used for experiments relating to assembly and installation in space, for example. Participants had to perform standardized tasks that varied in terms of motor and haptic requirements. In order to simulate the sense of touch reduced by the spacesuit, participants wore several pairs of gloves. Their performance in this task was compared to that achieved with the use of telerobotic systems. The results spoke to the possibilities and limits of having repair work in orbit (extra-vehicular activities) performed by astronauts vs. telerobots.

^{Testbed (developed by the Institute of Human Engineering)}

^{EVA testbed training}

^{Testbed training using a teleoperator}

^{Operator using a testbed}

^{Planned testbed for teleoperation experiments on the outside of the “Columbus” module of the ISS}

Literature

Strauß, Lena: „Erfassung der feinmotorischen Performanz beim On-orbit-Servicing mittels Telemanipulation und Unterwassersimulation”. Dissertation, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Institut für Arbeitswissenschaft, 2011.

Geiger, Lena; Popp, Michael M.; Färber, Berthold: „Validation of a Testbed as a Screening Tool for Telepresence Systems in Terms of Fine-Motor-Performance”. In: Presence : Virtual and Augmented Reality, 2011, S. 162-172.

Geiger, Lena; Popp, Michael M.; Färber, Berthold; Artigas, Jordi; Kremer, Peter: “Is a Telepresence-System an Effective Alternative to Manned Missions?” In: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (5), Osaka, Japan, S. 145-146, 2010.

Stoll, Enrico; Walter, Ulrich; Artigas, Jordi; Preusche, Carsten; Kremer, Philipp; Hirzinger, Gerd; Letschnik, Jürgen; Pongrac, Helena: "Ground Verification on the Feasibility of Telepresent On-Orbit Servicing". In: Journal of Field Robotics, 26, 2009, 3. - Pp. 287-307. Wiley Periodicals.

Geiger, Lena; Artigas, Jordi; Kremer, Peter; Popp, Michael M.; Färber, Berthold: „The Influence of Telemanipulation-Systems on Fine Motor Performance“. In: International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions (3), Saint Maarten Saint, Netherlands Antilles, 2010.