1. Effects of visual force feedback on robot-assisted surgical task performance 
Carol E. Reiley, MS, Takintope Akinbiyi, MS, Darius Burschka, PhD, David C. Chang, PhD, MPH, MBA, Allison M. Okamura, PhD, David D. Yuh, MD 
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 
Volume 135, Issue 1, Pages (January 2008)
DOI: /j.jtcvs
Copyright © 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1
Two sets of strain gauges orthogonally mounted on the da Vinci (Intuitive Surgical, Inc, Sunnyvale, Calif) instrument shaft detect bending forces in 2 degrees of freedom. The applied forces at each instrument tip were calculated as the vector sum for F1 and F2, where F1 and F2 are the forces detected by the 2 orthogonally placed strain gauge bridges. A clamshell cannula was designed to secure the instrument shaft while preventing damage to the force sensors and wires that ran along the shaft.
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.jtcvs )
Copyright © 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
System schematic of VFF. Frame grabbers obtain stereoscopic images from the da Vinci InSite stereoscopic video system, and a semitransparent overlay is placed over the instrument image based on force magnitude data obtained from the instrument strain gauges and computed kinematics data from the da Vinci application program interface. VGA, Video graphics array.
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.jtcvs )
Copyright © 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Terms and Conditions

4. Figure 3
Video sequence of knot-tying trial showing the semitransparent colored circle VFF overlays. Minimal to no applied force (green circle), ideal applied force (yellow circle), and excessive applied force (red circle).
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.jtcvs )
Copyright © 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Terms and Conditions

5. Figure 4
Comparisons of broken sutures (A), peak applied force (B), standard deviations (C), knot-tying completion times (D), and loose knots (E) between tasks performed with and without VFF. *P < .05, **P < .01. VFF, Visual force feedback.
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.jtcvs )
Copyright © 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Terms and Conditions