VR trainer at MT-CONNECT
Virtual reality in medicine will be indispensable in the future.
At the trade fair forum in Hall 10 of MT-CONNECT in Nuremberg, Johannes P.G. Atze, managing partner of CAT MEDIC, presented the HIPS project on April 11: Hip Implant Cup Milling Simulator. This is a VR trainer that can be used to practice one of the most important steps in inserting an artificial hip in a virtual environment.
A unique VR (virtual reality) trainer
This future VR trainer simulates the forces applied by the surgeon during the hip socket milling process. This makes it possible to prepare the hip socket optimally for the required implant. This is achieved through the use of an industrial robot. For accurate visual simulation (virtual reality), a rendering algorithm is being developed that visualizes the corresponding material removal from the pelvic bone in real time, parallel to the force-dependent feed of the milling machine.
Our virtual reality expertise
Our part in the project is to create the 3D data required for programming the virtual reality environment. To do this, we create a realistic replica of the patient using medically accurate 3D anatomy. We also recreate most of the virtual operating room, the necessary assistant doctors, the surgical assistants, and the surgical instruments used. This allows the VR device to transport the surgeon into a virtual surgical situation that corresponds as closely as possible to reality.
In further stages of the system’s development, it will be possible to virtually simulate different patient types, different bone densities, different approaches to the hip, different surgical instruments, and crisis situations.
CAT MEDIC and its partners
In order to develop this high-quality VR trainer, further in-depth expertise is required in addition to the core competencies of CAT PRODUCTION and CAT MEDIC. The project involves teams from the University of Bremen, FAKT Software GmbH Leipzig, and the project management team at Chemnitz University of Technology. They have joined forces as part of a ZIM project (ZIM = Central Innovation Program for SMEs, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, grant number KF2039721AK2).
Once the project is complete, the findings can be used for a wide range of other surgical simulators. In the future, these systems are to be used cost-effectively in the training and continuing education of doctors and surgeons.
Milestones in medical technology
The trade fair forum on Digital Technologies and Future MedTech is being organized by Digital Health Hub Nuremberg/Erlangen powered by Medical Valley & ZOLLHOF and the digital association Bitkom as part of MT-CONNECT – the trade fair for medical technology (April 11–12). We are delighted to be in Nuremberg when milestones in medical technology are presented and goals for the 21st century are set.
