Assistance by adaptative damping on a complex bimanual task in laparoscopic surgery

Purpose Laparoscopic surgery has improved outcomes in abdominal surgery, but presents kinematic restrictions for surgeons. Robotic comanipulation with adaptative damping has been investigated in simple laparoscopic tasks. The present protocol aimed to determine the contribution of adaptive damping in complex bimanual tasks approaching clinical setting. Methods Fourteen residents in general surgery performed three exercises, and for each three repetitions without (classic repetitions) and three with robotic assistance (robotic repetitions) in a randomised order. The exercises chosen were trajectory, modified Pea on a Peg and intracorporeal suture. Task performance, gesture performance, workload and impression were measured. Also, a semi-directed interview was performed to collect the participants’ feeling about companipulated robots and their potential application in clinical practice. Results Adaptative damping assistance did not impact task performance, but allowed an economy of movement in the non-dominant hand during suture exercise (distance 916 ± 500 mm in classic vs. 563 ± 261 mm in robotic, p