Intuitive Touch Panel Navigation System through Kyoto Digital Sosui Network

Abstract

We have developed multi-touch panel robotic arm control system for thoracoscopic surgery. Our multi-touch panel navigation system consists of green laser guide maker, robotic arms with four spindles, multi-touch panel monitor, and PCs for control regulation. The multi-touch panel monitor recognized the finger-touch; thereby the tip of the robot arm is controlled just on the green maker. For estimation in remote control use, the PC for the robot control was placed in Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, which was connected through the Kyoto Digital Sosui Network, a gigabit Ethernet with layer-2 security.  Another computer for the remote control of the PC for the robot control was placed in Yamashiro Public Hospital, 35 kilometers south of Kyoto city, through the same gigabit Ethernet. Using virtual network computing (VNC), which is a graphical desktop sharing system to control another computer, we demonstrated a remote control of the robot and collected the packets to examine the traffic bandwidth. The robot was successfully controlled in remote conditions.  The throughput of the Ethernet was 16.4 ±3.6 Mbps in the remote control of the robot using VNC.  The round-trip time was 19.9 ± 0.39 msec, while 8000 bytes data was sent by using ping command.  We demonstrated an intuitive touch panel navigation system, which a surgical robot stopped an arterial bleeding in an animal model.  The robot system was successfully controlled through a gigabit Ethernet between two distant hospitals.