BACKGROUND: Preoperative planning and intraoperative assistance are needed to improve accuracy in tumour surgery. To be accepted, these processes must be efficient. An experiment was conducted to compare a mouse and a haptic device, with and without force feedback, to perform plan positioning in a 3D space. Ergonomics and performance factors were investigated during the experiment. Positioning strategies were observed. METHODS: The task completion time, number of 3D orientations and failure rate were analysed. A questionnaire on ergonomics was filled out by each participant. RESULTS: The haptic device showed a significantly lower failure rate and was quicker and more ergonomic than the mouse. The force feedback was not beneficial to the accomplishment of the task. CONCLUSIONS: The haptic device is intuitive, ergonomic and more efficient than the mouse for positioning a 3D plane into a 3D space. Useful observations regarding positioning strategies will improve the integration of haptic devices into medical applications. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
BACKGROUND: Preoperative planning and intraoperative assistance are needed to improve accuracy in tumour surgery. To be accepted, these processes must be efficient. An experiment was conducted to compare a mouse and a haptic device, with and without force feedback, to perform plan positioning in a 3D space. Ergonomics and performance factors were investigated during the experiment. Positioning strategies were observed. METHODS: The task completion time, number of 3D orientations and failure rate were analysed. A questionnaire on ergonomics was filled out by each participant. RESULTS: The haptic device showed a significantly lower failure rate and was quicker and more ergonomic than the mouse. The force feedback was not beneficial to the accomplishment of the task. CONCLUSIONS: The haptic device is intuitive, ergonomic and more efficient than the mouse for positioning a 3D plane into a 3D space. Useful observations regarding positioning strategies will improve the integration of haptic devices into medical applications. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.