Teleoperated system for visual monitoring of surgery

This paper presents some work performed to date which is intended to lead to the development of a remotely operated system which would enable visual monitoring of surgical procedures at distant locations. This concept has been developed in the laboratory but not yet demonstrated under field conditions. Using existing technologies in a new configuration the system would assist in performing complex surgical procedures at remote locations where specialist surgeons are normally unavailable. With this system, a remotely based, general surgeon performing an operation can consult and interact with specialist surgeons through visual observation and voice communications. The prototype system consists of a six degree-of-freedom robot with an independently steerable CCD colour camera mounted on the end-effector. The operation of the device, by means of a joystick, comprises the movement of the robot to a suitable location for viewing the surgery. Visual and audio feedback to the expert surgeon, as well as the camera control, would be via a LAN or ISDN connection and by the implementation of a commercial video-conferencing package while the control signals for the robot arm are transmitted via a separate modem telephone line.