Enhancing robotic telesurgery with sensorless haptic feedback.

Purpose: This paper evaluates user performance in telesurgical tasks with the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK), comparing unilateral teleoperation, bilateral teleoperation with force sensors and sensorless force estimation.

Methods: A four-channel teleoperation system with disturbance observers and sensorless force estimation with learning-based dynamic compensation was developed. Palpation experiments were conducted with 12 users who tried to locate tumors hidden in tissue phantoms with their fingers or through handheld or teleoperated laparoscopic instruments with visual, force sensor, or sensorless force estimation feedback.