Considerations for future of robotic surgery

• Improving human-robot teaming in surgical tasks by understanding nontechnical skill requirements for human stakeholders involved in the work
  • HCC: CAREER: Redefining Skill Requirements and Evaluating Interaction Dynamics in Human-Robot Surgical Teams
• Investigating human-robot interaction, training, and built environment factors in robotic surgery (NSF-funded)
  • FW-HTF-P: Adapting to the Future of Robotic Surgery: Understanding Training and Design Environments for Human-Robot Teams
• Understanding cybersecurity for robotic surgery (NSF-funded)
  • CICI: UCSS: Human-Centered Cybersecurity in Robotic Surgery (HCCRS) – Coordinating the Human and Cyber Infrastructure for Cybersecurity
• Improving surgical training
  • Personalized Robotic Surgery Training to Optimize Learning Outcomes (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons funded)
  • Usability-driven Anomaly Identification for Physiological Sensors in Training (Prisma Health)

Applications of exoskeletons in clinical environments

• Surgery – Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) due to overexertion continue to be among the top causes of occupational injuries, especially among surgical team members. Manual lifting and transferring of patients or heavy equipment often require high force applications by nurses, surgeons, or surgical assistants and are performed in extreme/non-neutral postures, which can lead to consequent pains, injuries, and days away from work. This contributes to reduced staffing and to poor patient care and outcomes. There is a need for new solutions to address WMSD risks and injuries among surgical team members. Passive exoskeleton technology can be an intervention, but there is a need to i) understand the feasibility of integrating novel technology into current surgical workflows, and ii) evaluate the efficacy of the technology for the surgical care team. Outcomes from this proposed research will provide guidelines for best practices of exoskeleton adoption for surgical teams and provide evidence of using exoskeletons to minimize WMSDs among the care team to facilitate patient care and safety. (AHRQ-funded)
  • Investigating the Use of Exoskeletons for Reducing Musculoskeletal Injuries in Surgical Care Tasks
• Emergency Medical Service (EMS) – Understanding use of wearable exoskeletons to reduce physical demands placed on EMS providers, thereby reducing the risk of WMSDs, and improving their work conditions and safety. (Prisma Health funded)
• Ethical Considerations – This work investigates the ethical question of how user perceptions, technology acceptance, and health effects of wearable robotics technologies, such as back-support exoskeletons, differ across sex and race. In the long term, this study will enhance and broaden our understanding of expectations and concerns regarding the design and use of exoskeletons among diverse demographic groups and document the ethical concerns arising from currently limited participant representation in exoskeleton design evaluations.
  • Ethical Considerations in The Design and Testing of Back-Support Exoskeletons