Handling and Docking of the Da Vinci Surgical Robot Using Mixed Reality

Minimally invasive surgery has improved because of the additional functionality and dexterity offered by the Da Vinci robot in handling surgical instruments. However, surgeons and medical staff face significant challenges in handling, setting up, and docking the device, especially in the case of new surgical rooms with different sizes and different specialists. This study aims to provide a time-saving solution for handling and docking the Da Vinci robot in operating rooms and to find out which place is best by projecting its 3D model in the desired space through Microsoft HoloLens 2. In particular, the idea is to provide the surgical team with prior spatial awareness for robot handling. Thus, avoiding interference with obstacles, and planning the optimal path for handling and docking the real robot. The robot’s 3D model was properly positioned on the floor avoiding nearby obstructions, with the exact dimension of the real system (height: 175.3 cm, length: 127 cm, width: 91.5 cm). In this early study, we evaluated the efficacy of the system to reconstruct the barriers in the real that are constraints for the robot movements and its usability in the managing of the robot virtual replica.