Force-Feedback and Time Delay
The ability to carry out delicate manipulations relies greatly upon feedback. For example it is easy to learn how much pressure is required to handle an egg. In robotic surgery, surgeons need to be able to perceive the amount of force being applied without directly touching the surgical tools. Systems known as force-feedback, or Haptic technology, have been developed to simulate this. Haptics is the science of touch. Any type of Haptic feedback provides a responsive force in opposition to the touch of the hand. Haptic technology in telesurgery, making a virtual image of a patient or incision, would allow a surgeon to see what they are working on as well as feel it. This technology is designed to give a surgeon the ability to feel tendons and muscles as if it was actually the patient’s body. However these systems are very sensitive to time-delays such as those present in the networks used in remote surgery.
Read more about this topic: Remote Surgery
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