The Benefits of Haptic Feedback in Telesurgery and Other Teleoperation Systems: A Meta-Analysis

A quantitative review of empirical studies investigating the effects of haptic feedback in teleoperation or virtual reality systems is provided. Several meta-analyses were conducted based on results of 58 studies with 1104 subjects from the medical and other teleoperation domains, revealing positive, substantial effects of kinesthetic force feedback on task performance (Hedges’ g = 0.62–0.75) and force regulation (g = 0.64–0.78) and positive, but small effects on task completion time (g = 0.22). Vibrotactile substitution of force feedback results in significantly lower effects on task performance (g = .21). Yet, exaggerated force production can be avoided effectively. Finally, we found evidence that the magnitude of the force feedback effects are moderated by task characteristics like force regulation demands and complexity.