Table 2.

Characteristics of included studies assessing skill transfer in simulated settings

Study author, year	Skill transfer	Participants	Task sequence	Comparison group(s)
Anderberg et al. [18], 2010	Lap. → R	10 medical students (SN) performing tasks with conv. lap. first then on the da Vinci robot	Repeated 4 times on each platform:  Grab the Needle  Continuous Suturing  Tie a knot	10 medical students (SN) performing tasks with the robot first then with conv. lap
Angell et al. [19], 2013	Lap. → R	14 medical students (SN)	Spiral cutting exercise using da Vinci robot 1 month lap. training (no robotic exposure) Repeat spiral cutting exercise on da Vinci robot and on lap. box trainer	None
Ashley et al. [20], 2019	Lap. → R	15 medical students (SN) trained on a lap. simulator and assessed on robotic simulator (RoSS)	Balloon Grasp and Ball Drop tasks on RoSS, and Peg Transfer and Ball Drop tasks on lap. simulator Participants randomised to either lap. simulator or RoSS and perform Ball Drop 10 times Perform Ball Drop with the unpractised modality	16 medical students (SN) trained on RoSS and assessed on lap. simulator
Blavier et al. [21], 2007	Lap. → R	40 medical students (SN) performing tasks with conv. lap. before switching to the da Vinci robot, or vice versa	Needle Guidance task	Medical students performing task with the robot first, then with conv. lap
Cumpanas et al. [22], 2017	Open → R	10 trainee surgeons (> 2 years of open surgical exp. only)	3 repetitions on da Vinci Skills Simulator of:  Peg Board Level 1 (easy)  Energy Dissection Level 2 (intermediate)  Suture Sponge Level 3 (difficult)	15 final year medical students (SN)
Davila et al. [23], 2017	Lap. → R	9 surgical trainees (RN with limited lap. exp.) trained on lap. simulator then assessed on the da Vinci robot	3 consecutive attempts each of Intracorporeal Knot Tying and Peg Transfer tasks performed on the robot Participants undergo 4 1-h training sessions in their assigned training modality Robotic skills then reassessed with the same two tasks	88888surgical trainees receiving no training 10 surgical trainees trained on da Vinci Skills Simulator
Feifer et al. [24], 2010	Lap. → R	5 medical students (SN) undergo ProMIS (Haptica, Ireland) practice 5 medical students (SN) undergo LapSim (Surgical Science, Sweden, AB) practice 5 medical students (SN) undergo ProMIS and LapSim training	Baseline evaluation on da Vinci robot with Peg Transfer, Pattern Cutting, Intracorporeal Suturing and Cannulation Participants undergo practice on assigned platform Reassessed on da Vinci robot	5 medical students (SN) undergo no lap. training
Finnerty et al. [25], 2016	Lap. → R	28 surgical residents (RN with varying lap. experience ranging from 1 to 750 cases logged)	1 trial on da Vinci robot of:  Match Board  Energy Dissection Suture Sponge	8 medical students (SN)
Hagen et al. [26], 2009	Lap. → R	16 lap. trained fellows or senior surgeons	10 repetitions on da Vinci robot of:  Rubber Ring Placement  Suturing with Knot Tying  Needle Guidance	18 medical students or residents (LN)
Hassan et al. [27], 2015	Lap. → R	15 medical students and junior residents (SN) performing tasks with conv. lap. first then on da Vinci robot	5 repetitions on each platform of:  Pick and Place  Thread the Ring	15 medical students and junior residents (SN) performing tasks with R. lap. first then with conv. lap
Jayaraman et al. [28], 2010	Lap. → R	Lap. exp. surgeon (RN)	Each participant performed 10 lap. and 10 robotic choledochojejunostomies on ex vivo model consisting of porcine livers with contiguous intestines	Surgeon with R. and lap. exp Surgeon with only basic lap. exp
Kim et al. [29], 2014	Lap. → R	10 lap. exp. surgeons (RN)	Bead Transfer, Ring Insertion onto Cone, and Suturing with Knot Tying tasks performed on both lap. and da Vinci robotic platforms Tasks repeated after an 8-week interval	10 LN medical students
Kowalewski et al. [30], 2018	Open → R Lap. → R	25 surgeons (varying levels of open and lap. exp.)	1 repetition each on da Vinci robot of:  Peg Board  Pick and Place  Thread the Rings  Suture Sponge	37 medical students (SN)
McVey et al. [31], 2016	Lap. → R	32 trainees with varying levels of lap. exp	Participants undergo 4 week robotic surgery course Assessed pre- and post-course on R. and lap. platforms:  Peg Transfer  Intracorporeal Suturing and Knot Tying	Comparisons performed in analysis based on baseline lap. skill score
Moncayo et al. [32], 2019	Lap. → R	6 medical students (SN) performing tasks on the lap. platform first then on the R. platform	Repeated 5 times on each platform:  Thread the Ring  Transfer the Plot	6 medical students (SN) performing tasks on the R. platform first then on the lap. platform
Obek et al. [33], 2005	Lap. → R	10 medical students (SN) assessed with robotics first, undergo conv. lap. training then reassessed with robotics	Intracorporeal Knot Tying performed on assigned pre-training platform Knot Tying practiced with assigned training method Knot Tying reassessed on pre-training platform	10 medical students (SN) assessed with conv. lap. first, undergo R. training then reassessed with conv. lap
Panait et al. [34], 2014	Lap. → R	14 lap. exp. surgery residents (RN)	Tasks performed on lap. platform first and then on R. platform (after a 24 h interval):  Peg Transfer (easiest task)  Circle Cutting (intermediate)  Intracorporeal Suturing (hardest task)	14 medical students with minimal lap. exp. and no R. exp
Passerotti et al. [35], 2015	Lap. → R	12 lap. exp. surgeons (RN)	Performed in 5 consecutive, weekly training sessions on both the lap. and robotic platforms:  Peg Transfer  Precision Cutting  Suturing with Intracorporeal Knot Tying	31 SN
Pimentel et al. [36], 2018	Lap. → R	20 lap. exp. surgeons (RN)	4 repetitions on da Vinci-Trainer of the following sequence:  Peg Board 2  Ring and Rail 1  Suture Sponge 1	20 first-year surgical residents with minimal lap. and no robotic exp
Teishima et al. [37], 2012	Lap. → R	10 lap. exp. urologic surgeons (RN)	4 repetitions on da Vinci-Trainer of:  Pick and Place  Peg Board  Rope Walk  Energy Dissection  Suture Sponge  Thread the Rings	13 lap. inexp. urologic surgeons (RN)
Thomaier et al. [38], 2017	Lap. → R	20 medical students (SN) practice on lap. simulator	Baseline evaluation of Peg Transfer on lap. simulator and Peg Board 1 on robotic simulator Participants then undergo practice session on assigned platform Reassessed performing the Peg Transfer task on both simulators	20 medical students (SN) practice on robotic simulator
Tillou et al. [39], 2016	Lap. → R	20 senior residents, registrars and attending surgeons (lap. trained)	To ensure progressive learning, the following task sequence was used on da Vinci Skills simulator:  Camera Targeting 1 & 2  Ring Walk 1 & 2  Suture Sponge 1 & 2  Energy Switching 1 and Dissection Participants could only start next task upon scoring ≥ 80% in previous one	8 junior residents (with no formal lap. training) 2 experienced robotic surgeons
Vurgun et al. [40], 2020	Lap. → R	6 medical students (SN) undergo 20 min of lap. training 6 medical students (SN) undergo 40 min of lap. training	Participants undergo assigned lap. training Participants then complete Rope Passing and Ball Placement tasks on Laparo Advance box trainer (Laparo LLC, Wroclaw, Poland) and then similar tasks on Senhance robotic simulator (Senhance Surgical System & Kroton LLC, Warsaw, Poland)	11 medical students (SN) receive no lap. training
Yoo et al. [41], 2015	Lap. → R	11 lap. exp. surgeons (no robotic experience)	1 trial on da Vinci-trainer of:  Pick and Place  Peg Board  Match Board	14 medical students (SN)
Zihni et al. [42], 2016	Lap. → R	26 RN	Tasks performed 3 times each on each platform (Robotic/Lap.). Platform and task order randomised:  Peg Transfer  Pattern Cutting  Intracorporeal Suturing	Comparisons made on platform order

conv. lap. conventional laparoscopy, exp. experience, inexp. inexperienced, lap. laparoscopic, LN laparoscopic naïve, R robotic, RCT randomised controlled trial, RN robotics naïve, SN surgically naïve