Toward machine mediated training of motor skills. Skill transfer from human to human via virtual environment

We investigate a possibility of skill mapping from human to human via a visual/haptic display system. Our goal in the future is to develop a training system for motor skills such as surgical operations. We have proposed a new concept of visual/haptic display called a WYSIWYF Display; (What You See Is What You Feel). The proposed concept ensures correct visual/haptic registration which is important for effective hand-eye coordination training. Using the prototype WYSIWYF display, we did a preliminary experiment of skill training. Our idea of skill transfer is very simple; basically it is a "record-and-replay" strategy. Questions are "What is the essential data to be recorded for transferring the skill?" and "What is the best way to provide the data to the trainee?". Several methods were tried but no remarkable result was obtained, presumably because the chosen task was too simple.