In the »Robot-Assisted Surgery« project, part of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material«, we focus on future designs of surgical systems to augment human-robot interaction.

Robot-assisted surgery is becoming a significant part of surgical practice, enhancing precision during surgery and reducing patient recovery times. Our research explores the dynamic interrelations between humans, technologies, and material practices in robot-assisted surgery, wherein surgical team members' and robotic systems' interactions are collaboratively shaped. This collaboration in RAS is constituted through continuous, shared activities in socio-material configurations.

Therefore, we aim to understand how these configurations of humans and the robotic system impact robot-assisted surgery procedures and how knowledge is shared between humans and robots in such settings.

By engaging in a research-through-design approach, we build on prior work in human-robot interaction, combining evolutionary prototyping with participatory design techniques. The project progresses through four phases: establishing a theoretical foundation, developing a cross-disciplinary conceptual framework, prototyping, and evaluating human-robot interactions to derive design recommendations.

Explore our current activities of this research project.

Project partners

• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
• Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin
• Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
• Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung Wissenschaftspark
• Technische Universität Berlin