Early Virtual Reality User Experience and Usability Assessment of a Surgical Shape Memory Alloy Aspiration/Irrigation Instrument

Performing user experience (UX) and usability studies in VR to assess early product prototypes is common in the automotive and other sectors but has not yet been applied for the development of surgical instruments. For the development of an aspiration/irrigation instrument using a shape memory alloy (SMA) tube, we wanted to get an early user feedback of our prototype from medical staff. We conducted a study with 22 participants with a medical background and considered a potential presence bias of the UX and usability ratings. The results confirm the novelty and usefulness of a SMA tube and gave us valuable feedback for optimizing the shapeshifting mechanism.