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arXiv · 2609.27160

Fine Wrist Control as a Marker of Surgical Teleoperation Expertise

Mary Kate Gale·Shujiro Shobayashi·Sangeet Satpathy·Nitsan Davidor·Ilana Nisky·Allison Okamura
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Abstract

Unlike most intensely physical pursuits, surgical robotic teleoperation training focuses primarily on task outcomes rather than surgeon body posture or biomechanics during task completion. Toward the question of the role of biomechanics in surgical expertise, we sought to characterize the articular motion of expert teleoperators as compared to novice users. Twenty-seven novices and nine experts completed a non-medical cylinder-on-peg transfer task while their upper limb biomechanics were recorded via motion trackers. During more difficult motions, experts stabilized their wrist motion more than novices, while maintaining adequate range of motion in their shoulder and elbow and completing the task significantly faster than novices. This marker of expertise suggests the importance of attention to user biomechanics during teleoperation of surgical robots.

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Mary Kate Gale, Shujiro Shobayashi, Sangeet Satpathy, Nitsan Davidor, Ilana Nisky, Allison Okamura. 2026-09-22. Fine Wrist Control as a Marker of Surgical Teleoperation Expertise. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27160

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