Surgeons feel and see their knifework

17 Jun 2002

A virtual reality system is under development that will allow trainee surgeons to see a high-resolution three-dimensional image of the human body scaled to any size. At the same time, the surgeon will be able to feel the pressure of an instrument as it cuts through tissue indicating whether they have hit a bone, for example.

CSIRO of Canberra, Australia, developed the "haptic workbench" to simulate the sense of touch so that the operator feels as well as sees the virtual object.

Australian surgeons have been amazed to feel a syringe pop through the skin and vein and then see it fill with lifelike blood.
The workbench combines a mirrored three-dimensional imaging system with a robotic arm which is both the input and the haptic feedback device. Wearing 3D glasses, the surgeon sits at the workbench and holds the instrument - pen, tool or scalpel, for instance - at the end of the robotic arm.

Powerful, miniature motors control how the arm responds to movement and creates resistance. AThe arm is actually stronger than a person,@ said CSIRO's Duncan Stevenson. "So if the software says that you can't do something like push a needle through bone there is no way they can force the arm to do it."

The 3D mirror system means that objects appear to sit on the bench rather than in a computer monitor so adding to the realism.
"We need to acquire a huge amount of anatomical and physical data to generate the 3D body images," added Stevenson, "then the software systems for specific types of surgery need to be developed."