Impacts of Telemanipulation in Robotic Assisted Surgery

Robotic-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is adopted more and more as it overcomes the shortcomings of classic MIS for surgeons while keeping the benefits of small incisions for patients. However, introducing new technology oftentimes affects the work of skilled practitioners. Our goals are to investigate the impacts of telemanipulated surgical robots on the work practices of surgical teams and to understand their cause. We conducted a field study observing 21 surgeries, conducting 12 interviews and performing 3 data validation sessions with surgeons. Using Thematic Analysis, we find that physically separating surgeons from their teams makes them more autonomous, shifts their use of perceptual senses, and turns the surgeon's assistant into the robot's assistant. We open design opportunities for the HCI field by questioning the telemanipulated approach and discussing alternatives that keep surgeons on the surgical field.