Field Operation of a Surgical Robot via Airborne Wireless Radio Link M.H. Lum * , D.C.W. Friedman † , H.H. King * , Timothy Broderick ‡ , M.N. Sinanan § , J. Rosen * and B. Hannaford * * Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, {mlum, hawkeye1, rosen, blake}@u.washington.edu † Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington dwarden@u.washington.edu ‡ Dept. of Surgery, University of Cincinnatti brodertj@ucmail.uc.edu § Dept. of Surgery, University of Washington mssurg@u.washington.edu Abstract— Robotic assisted surgery generates the possibility of remote operation between surgeon and patient. We need better understanding of the engineering issues involved in op- erating a surgical robot in remote locations and through novel communication links between surgeon and surgery site. This paper describes two recent experiments in which we tested a new prototype surgical robot manipulation system in field and laboratory conditions. In the first experiment, we set up the robot in a remote pasture land and ran it on generator power. Telecommunication with the surgical control station was provided by a novel airborne radio link supported by an unmanned arial vehicle. In the second experiment, we teleoperated the robot over an Internet link between Imperial College London and our laboratory in Seattle. Data are reported on surgeon completion times for basic tasks and on network latency experience. The results are a small step towards teleoperated surgical robots which can be rapidly deployed in emergency situations in the field. I. I NTRODUCTION The primary objective of this project was to demonstrate in the field a Mobile Robotic Telesurgery (MRT) system which would eventually allow a remote surgeon to operate on a patient regardless of their location or environment. Remote environments limit access to power and telecommunication resources needed by telesurgery systems. Our experiments tested a novel MRT system comprised of a prototype next generation surgical robot and an Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV)-based communication system in range land near Simi Valley, California. Network limitations in latency, bandwidth, jitter, packet loss and loss of signal make telesurgical intervention in extreme environments difficult. While other existing topologies such as geosynchronous satellites can provide wireless communication for use in mobile telesurgery, long latency as the result of signal transmission distance precludes robust use of satellite communications in telesurgery. Geosynchronus orbit is 35,900 km above the earth surface, and a complete loop from surgeon to robot and back requires two trips up and down; a 0.48 sec round trip at the speed of light. Various types of Unmanned Airborne Vehicles can operate at altitudes from 100 to 20,000 meters and carry equipment to provide robust, low-latency, high quality communications. In these experiments, the communication link was pro- vided by a single bounce of the signal off a Puma UAV by AeroVironment Inc., Simi Valley, CA. The Puma is a 2-meter wingspan, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) that flies at altitudes below 5000 meters above sea level and can provide line of sight communication up to a distance of 12 kilometers with low gain antennas and 20km with higher gain antennas. Approximately 4,000 Pumas are currently deployed across the world in military applications. A. Literature Review The earliest teleoperators, invented by Ray Goertz of Ar- gonne National Labs in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s,[1] are mechanical hands, coupled through a system of cables and pulleys to a remote handle which the operator can control at a safe distance. These mechanisms were very effective and are still in use, but are limited by their mechanical nature to short distances and similar size scales. After continuous development at many labs[2], [3], teleop- eration technology has matured enough in the last 15 years to apply to surgery. By connecting the surgeon to the tools through teleoperators, the tools can be made smaller than the human hand, more dexterous in small body cavities, and, perhaps most revolutionary, can connect surgeon and patient across large distances. In the early 1990’s Dr. Phil Green at SRI International de- veloped a two-handed teleoperated surgery unit for DARPA[4]. This highly influential project encouraged the startup of two companies to address the civilian surgery market, Computer Motion Inc, of Goleta Ca., and Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISI) of Silicon valley. Both of these companies developed FDA approved surgical robot systems, the “Zeus” from Computer Motion[?] and “Da-Vinci” from ISI[5]. In 2003 they merged under the name of ISI. Over 300 Da-Vinci systems are in use around the world today. Both of these systems are teleoperators, but neither had the capability to separate the surgeon and patient by more than a few feet.