MicroDuet: Interpersonal Synchrony in Dual Microsurgical Performance in the Operating Room

MicroDuet investigates the degree to which interpersonal synchrony—facilitated by joint visual attention and low-level physiological synchrony—is a mechanism underlying effective collaboration in dual microsurgery. Using state-of-the-art sensors and nonlinear dynamic systems theory, MicroDuet creates multimodal data, methods, and theories to computationally model critical collaborative processes and help isolate best practices of high-performing teams in authentic operating rooms (OR). These tools are essential to building expertise-driven models of effective collaboration, facilitating effective training, and designing future intelligent interventions. While MicroDuet is situated in microsurgery, the approaches and implications are timely and relevant to broader CSCW domains where face-to-face collaboration is increasingly restricted, i.e., assistive robotics, remote trauma care, and industrial maintenance.