| Although experience within the operating room can help surgeons learn simple bone-drilling techniques, outside training may be better suited for complex procedures. This thesis investigates the use of tools from robotics to explore innovative approaches to improving the state of the art in surgical training and simulation. This entails two projects.;The first project, includes the adaptation of a rotary handpiece to evaluate bone drilling skills of orthopaedic resident physicians during the 2017 Southwest Orthopaedic Trauma Association (SWOTA) motor skills course. A total of 25 Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY1) orthopaedic residents from 6 institutions were asked to perform a bicortical drilling task 3 times before and after attending a motor skills course. Kinetic and kinematic data were collected using force, acceleration, and visual sensors. A total of 16 parameters were measured---those different after the course to a statistically significant degree were: over-penetration, skiving, preparation time, drilling time, palmar-dorsal vibration, maximum drilling force, and maximum RPM. The interdependence of these parameters---taken separately for pre- and post-course performance are presented. Noteworthy correlations include: over-penetration with force (0.65), palmar-dorsal (P-D) toggle (0.65), vibration in P-D (0.53), time (--0.41), and RPM (--0.36); time with both RPM (0.38) and P-D toggle (--0.40); and force with both RPM (--0.41) and P-D toggle (0.32). The correlation data presented provides insight into patterns between measured parameters as to where performance metrics are and are not coupled. Evidence for motor skill acquisition across both short and long-time scales is elucidated.;In the second project, a Plates and Cables (PAC) haptic device is built, which presents first steps in the ambitious design of a hybrid impedance- admittance haptic device that targets simulation of bone drilling and related tasks. The version presented here is optimized for the high axial forces needed for simulating the use of a surgical drill or bone awl. At this stage we are presenting a simplified prototype of the mixed impedance and admittance haptic device optimized for applications, like bone drilling, spinal awl probe use, and other surgical techniques where high force is required in the tool-axial direction and low impedance is needed in all other directions. The performance levels required cannot be satisfied by existing, off-the-shelf haptic devices. This design may allow critical improvements in simulator fidelity for surgery training.;The device consists primarily of two low-mass (carbon fiber) plates with a rod passing through them. Collectively, the device provides six DOF. The rod slides through a bushing in the top plate and it is connected to the bottom plate with a universal joint, constrained to move in only two-DOF, allowing axial torque display the user's hand. The two parallel plates are actuated and located by means of four cables pulled by motors.;The forward kinematic equations are derived to ensure that the plates orientation remains constant. The corresponding equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson method. Then, we present the predicted distribution of location error, cable velocity, cable tension and force for the device. These results and preliminary hardware fabrication indicate that this design may provide a revolutionary approach for haptic display of many surgical procedures by means of an architecture that allows arbitrary workspace scaling. Scaling of the height and width can be scaled arbitrarily.;Finally, the inverse, forward and other functions are implemented to the robot controller. Torque to position controller is used by using PID with feed-forward for compensate the nonlinearity of dynamic coupling in the system. In this controller, switch between position and current modes would be fast and easy. |
