ViKY Robotic Scope Holder: Initial Clinical Experience and Preliminary Results Using Instrument Tracking

Robotic endoscope holders constitute an alternative to complete telesurgery systems, by offering a “third hand” to the surgeon during a laparoscopic procedure. ViKY robotic scope holder (Endocontrol, Grenoble, France) is a lightweight, sterilizable body-mounted robot with 3 DOF. In this paper, we present the specifics of this robot, the newly developed XL version dedicated to single-port surgery and the initial clinical experience. We have proposed a method to control the robot, based on the detection and tracking of surgical instrument from image analysis and shape priors, to enrich the interaction between the surgeon and the robot. We present here, our work in progress toward its integration into a probabilistic framework, with the aim of improving the method's speed and robustness. We also present the surgeons’ viewpoints on the feasibility of its integration into the operating theater.