Concurrent, face, content and construct validity of the RobotiX Mentor Simulator for Robotic Basic Skills

OBJECTIVES: To assess several criteria, such as concurrent, face, content, and construct validity of the RobotiX Mentor (RXM) simulator for basic robotic skills and to compare virtual and actual dry lab dome. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted from December 2017 to May 2018 using RXM and a da Vinci Si robot. 37 subjects, divided into three groups according to their initial surgical training (expert, intermediate, and novice), were evaluated in terms of six representative exercises of basic robotic specific skills as recommended by the fundamentals of robotic surgery. RESULTS: There was a correlation between the automatic data from the RXM and the subjective evaluation with the robot. The face and content validity, which were evaluated by the experts, were generally considered high (71.5% and 62.5%, respectively). Three levels (analysis of variance [ANOVA]; P = .01) and two levels (P = .001) of experience were clearly identified by the simulator. CONCLUSION: Our study proves the concurrent validity and confirms the face, content, and construct validity of the RXM.