Effectiveness of Mechanical Design Optimization Using a Human-in-the-Loop Simulator for the Development of a Pediatric Surgical Robot
, Hiroto Seno 2, Yo Kobayashi 3, Satoshi Ieiri 4, Makoto Hashizume 5 and Masakatsu G. Fujie 6
John Nassour
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The presents a novel design optimization method using human-in-the-loop simulation for the development of surgical robot. The proposed method improve the accuracy of the robot kinematics.
Author Response
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Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
There are some points to be addressed in order to improve the generl quality of the paper as follows:
- I think the words such as “mechanical design optimization” in the title and “novel design method” in abstract have a leap of logic considering the main contents of this research. The main idea of this study may be the verification on the effectiveness of optimization results, which are gained from previous researches.
- In this research, a space of 40mm x 40mm x 50mm is set as the limited space for the congenital esophageal atresia in pediatric surgery. I think some references to set this space are needed.
- This study emphasizes the limited workspace and mechanism size. Although the design variables of mechanism are optimized, the optimization on the physical size of the mechanism is not mentioned.
- The exact meaning of “Length of joint” in Section 1.2 should be explained, e.g., the distance between joints.
- If you recruit more subjects than 4, reliability of your results will be improved.
- (In Section 3.2) E is the sample which has the largest invisible area rate before optimization. Thus, it has ambiguity to use the sample E as a comparison material with small operating range although E has smaller value operating range than values of the others. For comparison of operating range, it probably needs to set a new sample, which has the smallest operating range before optimization.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper Mechanical design optimization using a human-in-the-loop simulator for development of pediatric surgical robot presents an interesting methodology for improving the design stage of medical/surgical robotic systems. The paper is well structured and well written. However, there are several minor issues to take into account before being accepted for publication:
1) Although English is, in general, very good, there are some minor mistakes. For instance, the word 'operate' is misused since its use in some sentences confuses the readers (see line 96, a surgeon can operate the designed robot in real-time).
2) The text of lines 136-139 has a different font size and line 142 should be in line 140.
3) Section 2.3 (lines 192-197) is confusing. When describing the subjects, it is stated that three are non-surgeons. Why the majority of the subjects are not specialized in pediatric surgery? Could lead this to not trustful results?
4) The references follow different styles that should be unified. Besides, the majority of the references are quite old (only two from 2016 and the majority from 2011 or before).
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have modified the draft reflecting the reviewer's opinions. Now it is good to enough to be published.
