Current robotic minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) platforms provide surgeons with no haptic feedback of the robot's physical interactions. This limitation forces surgeons to rely heavily on visual feedback and can make it challenging for surgical trainees to manipulate tissue gently. Prior research has demonstrated that haptic feedback can increase task accuracy in RMIS training. However, it remains unclear whether these improvements represent a fundamental improvement in skill, or if they simply stem from re-prioritizing accuracy over task completion time. In this study, we provide haptic feedback of the force applied by the surgical instruments using custom wrist-squeezing devices. We hypothesize that individuals receiving haptic feedback will increase accuracy (produce less force) while increasing their task completion time, compared to a control group receiving no haptic feedback. To test this hypothesis, N=21 novice participants were asked to repeatedly complete a ring rollercoaster surgical training task as quickly as possible. Results show that participants receiving haptic feedback apply significantly less force (0.67 N) than the control group, and they complete the task no faster or slower than the control group after twelve repetitions. Furthermore, participants in the feedback group decreased their task completion times significantly faster (7.68%) than participants in the control group (5.26%). This form of haptic feedback, therefore, has the potential to help trainees improve their technical accuracy without compromising speed.

翻译：当前的机器人微创手术（RMIS）平台无法为外科医生提供机器人物理交互的触觉反馈。这一限制迫使外科医生过度依赖视觉反馈，并可能导致手术培训学员难以轻柔地操作组织。先前的研究表明，触觉反馈能够提升RMIS训练中的任务准确性。然而，尚不明确这些改进是代表技能的根本性提升，还是仅仅源于将准确性优先于任务完成时间的重新权衡。在本研究中，我们采用定制腕部挤压装置，提供手术器械施加力的触觉反馈。我们假设，与未接受触觉反馈的对照组相比，接受触觉反馈的个体将在增加任务完成时间的同时提高准确性（施加更小的力）。为验证这一假设，21名新手参与者被要求以最快速度重复完成环形过山车手术训练任务。结果显示，接受触觉反馈的参与者施加的力显著小于对照组（0.67 N），且在十二次重复后，其任务完成速度与对照组无显著差异。此外，反馈组参与者的任务完成时间下降速度（7.68%）显著快于对照组（5.26%）。因此，这种触觉反馈形式具有在不牺牲速度的前提下，帮助学员提升技术准确性的潜力。