Virtual Reality System Gives Surgeons A New Way To Train

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 28 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Pilots use flight simulators to train, now surgeon get their own virtual reality system to practice complex procedures. Seattle-based Mimic Technologies developed a training simulator, the dV-Trainer, designed to allow efficient, on-demand training for surgeons learning to use the daVinci® Surgical System, a sophisticated robotic platform that enables complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach.

Think of Mimic's new dV-Trainer as a "flight simulator" for the da Vinci® Surgical System. This simulator is designed to teach basic robotic skills, such as instrument manipulation, camera control, clutching, and suturing. Key components of the dV-Trainer are a compact hardware platform that closely reproduces the look and feel of the daVinci® surgeon's console, and simulation software based on Mimic's proprietary virtual reality modeling technology.

Through the dV-Trainer, Surgeons can independently practice important skills that once required cadavers, or live patients. The simulator also provides surgeons with objective feedback on performance, while reducing training costs associated with training personnel, operating room costs, and training aids.

For more information, see a demo of the dV-Trainer at http://www.mimic.ws.

Also see a video on robotic simulation produced by Health Journal Television and the article titled Simulations Promise Better Training for Combat Medics.

About Mimic Technologies

Mimic is a provider of tension-based force feedback devices with real-time FE (Finite Element) modeling capabilities that enable rapid development of advanced haptic applications and accurate simulation of soft tissue and deformable objects. Visit http://www.mimic.ws for more details.

About Jeff Berkley

Jeff Berkley, Mimic's president and founder, began working as a consultant for a surgery simulation company in 1996, where his focus was real-time continuum mechanic based modeling of soft tissue. Jeff saw first hand how doctors were reluctant to accept virtual surgery as a valid tool for medical training, given the lack of realism that technology provided at that time. Jeff saw an opportunity to build a company that could solve some of the technological challenges necessary to overcome the objections by surgeons.

It was during Jeff's PhD work at the world renowned Human Interface Technology (HIT) Laboratory at the University of Washington that Jeff founded Mimic Technologies, Inc. in March 2001. Mimic's objective was to provide new solutions that would enable a more realistic simulation experience through software and hardware. With this objective met, the realistic surgical simulation now provided by the dV-Trainer has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry.