Proficiency Based Planner for Safe Path Planning and Applications in Surgical Training

Instrument navigation is a fundamental task in laparoscopic surgical training. To assist a trainee in this task, suggested path needs to be collision free and should maintain sufficient distance, or clearance from the obstacle so that the possibility of collision is minimized. Clearance highly depends on the ability of a trainee to perform the task. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for suggesting a path for a navigation task, that considers Proficiency Level of the trainee and provides a path according to how well a trainee can perform. The suggested approach is based on Probabilistic Roadmap Planners (PRM) and focuses on certain configuration spaces where most planners may fail to find a path while guaranteeing path's clearance. The new method provides a way to compensate for clearance constraints in regions wherever such compensation is necessary. Finally, the simulation in a surgical trainer demonstrates the effectiveness of the method.