New CHI 2026 publication on socio-material configurations in robot-assisted surgery

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I am very glad to see our work now published and presented at CHI 2026. The paper, “ViRAS: Design Artifacts to Explore Socio-Material Configurations through a Research-through-Design Approach in Robot-Assisted Surgery,”addresses a topic that I still consider highly important for the future of robotic surgery: how robotic systems reshape communication, responsibility, situational awareness, and teamwork in the operating room. Paper link: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3772318.3790755

The publication presents a three-phase study on robot-assisted surgery. In the project, an interdisciplinary team first observed robotic-assisted procedures, then developed Visual RAS (ViRAS) scenarios as design artifacts, and finally used these scenarios in guided interviews with experienced console surgeons. The goal was not to replicate whole procedures, but to make specific socio-material configurations visible and discussable, especially in adverse situations such as robotic arm collisions, impaired visibility, and moments of collaborative decision-making.

For me personally, this publication is also special because the surgical observations and conceptual and design-oriented phases of the research were strongly shaped by the collaboration with the two interaction designer researchers Dominic Eger Domingos and Anna Schaeffner. Observing robot-assisted surgeries together, translating these observations into a shared visual language, and discussing how to represent surgical teamwork, material arrangements, and disruptions in a structured way was an intense and inspiring process.

The final paper reports a substantial empirical basis: six observed robot-assisted surgeries, six ViRAS scenarios, and seven interviews with experienced RAS surgeons. Among the central findings are the effects of spatial separation between console surgeon and patient cart, communication barriers during adverse events, the growing responsibility of the console role, and the importance of better support for task perception, information exchange, and skill development in future robotic systems.

The work shows that design artifacts can do more than illustrate research findings. They can become tools for reflection across disciplines and help structure conversations about human-robot interaction in highly complex clinical settings. In this sense, the paper is not only relevant for robotic surgery, but also for broader discussions on socio-technical and socio-material configurations in medical technology.

I would like to thank the teams at the Human-Centered Computing Research Group, the weißensee academy of art berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin for this inspiring collaboration. I am especially happy to see this work now completed and visible as part of the CHI community.