In Taiwan, the medical devices used in operating rooms (ORs) are still operated using conventional physical methods. Since surgery requires a bacteria-free environment, and surgeons only have two hands, operating medical devices needs several surgical assistants. However, some problems do occur from time to time, for example, poor assignments allocation, divergent opinions among the assistants, and the assistants’ personal mistakes. These factors reduce the efficiency and success rate of surgery. Consequently, this research attempts to understand and consolidate all the factors through observation and interview. By this method, we propose a VUI of a CAS system that is custom designed to cater to the demands of medical professionals here in Taiwan. After the usability test, there is an assessment to determine whether the designed VUI is suitable for the medical environment in Taiwan and whether it provides a progressive solution. This will enable doctors in the future realize so-called solo surgery. Eventually, it is predicted that the results of this research will provide a helpful option when constructing such a VUI of CAS system here in Taiwan.

This paper presents a design for a computer aided surgical (CAS) system with a voice user interface (VUI) using Sami, a purpose-designed CAS system with VUI. Then, during Ureteroscopic surgery, we compare conventional UI — as performed at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital (NCKUH) — and the VUI of Sami. We invited three surgeons from NCKUH to participate in a Wizard of Oz test (WOZ test). Subsequently, the doctors were asked their opinion of Sami. At the end of the design process, the system framework of Sami was defined and programmed using Java. In the usability test, Sami demonstrated that the three surgeons could control the interface without using their hands, allowing them to see the nidus of the patient and administer the treatment. In the comparison results, the surgeons gave higher scores for convenience and speed to the VUI than to the conventional UI.