Human-centred strategies for improving efficiency in Makoplasty surgeries

This study establishes human-centred strategies to enhance teamwork and efficiency in Mako-assisted arthroplasty (Makoplasty) surgeries. Within the field of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC), there remains a need for grounded, real-world analyses that account for the experiences of diverse surgical team members, not just the primary operator (surgeon). Addressing this gap, the study presents a novel application of the Socio-Technical Grounded Theory Methodology to analyze 12 publicly available training videos of Makoplasty procedures. The findings identify three key strategies that surgical teams use to collaborate effectively with the Mako robotic system: (1) Supporting role adaptability and team calibration through ongoing communication and shared expectations, (2) Managing surgical gaze to maximise decision-making without compromising procedural efficiency, and (3) Supporting surgical flow through tool-assisted spatial coordination. These insights reframe surgical HRC as a dynamic, multi-agent interaction shaped by trust, communication, and spatial awareness, not just technological integration. Future research will expand on this work through hospital observations and expert interviews with surgical staff, further informing the design of more context-aware and inclusive robotic systems for real-world surgical collaboration.