Robotic Surgery
Robotic Surgery has emerged as one of the most advanced types of medical technology currently in use, and Augmented Reality is about to enhance its performance, range of application, and accessibility to a broader spectrum of users. Featuring some of the most sophisticated and well integrated visualization techniques, combined with dynamic real-time access to databases and interactive charts, robotic surgery has continued to incorporate the latest developments, in both the mechanics of the instruments and the information systems that support them. The recent introduction of Apple's ARKit Augmented Reality development
platform, as well as other competitive or proprietary platforms, have made the future for the immediate development of custom software for a comprehensive range of industries very bright, and, here at DDA, we believe robotic surgery is one of the most urgently necessary and valuable opportunities for new Augmented Reality software development. As award-winning developers of custom mobile software for healthcare applications and many other industries, we are excited about the prospects for new AR applications that will add even greater functionality to the robotic surgical theater.
Need
Ever since its inception, Robotic Surgery has required the integration of advanced machining and robotic control, combined with endoscopic lenses and real time computer visual displays of charts and patient data. Augmented Reality provides a 3D computer modeled space that acts as an immersive interface, one that integrates all visual and mechanical systems into a seamless experience. The new AR platforms will make it more feasible and cost effective to develop surgical applications that offer a superior level of control, combined with more immersive visual systems.
Benefit
As the next generation of visualization systems for Robotic Surgery, Augmented Reality will make surgical interface development more feasible, with cost effective tools and a more immersive experience. The sign of any advanced technology is its transparency and seamless ease of use, and AR has this precise potential for the future of robotic surgery.
Concept
Applications will be accessed through a mobile or hands-free device. Controls will be developed from the highly advanced control systems currently in use. The fundamentals of robotic surgery rely on developing assistive systems that enhance and improve upon human performance. For example, modern machining techniques can provide instruments that offer more axes of motion than the human wrist, and new fingertip controls can extend the function of the human touch. Endoscopy and micro motor control enable surgeons to make movements that are more carefully controlled and of a much more delicate scale that the unassisted human hand can manage. While some of the most advanced control consoles, such as the Da Vinci, are already highly developed immersive systems, new AR applications may find methods that are lighter and more flexible, while enhancing the immersive experience. The AR platform will have the capability to be shared by all participants in the surgical theater, from the assisting nurses and surgeons, the anesthesiologist, etc., and their actions can be coordinated from a central visual source. Instead of separate visual displays on a computer screen, this data can be incorporated directly into the 3D informational space. Floating text bars can appear and disappear after use, and dynamic displays will be updated in real-time. Augmented Reality takes the operating theater of controls to its ultimate expression, giving surgeons all of the tools in the medium they need them, when they need them, with a finer range of control over their surgical instruments.
At DDA, we are specialists in crafting precise experiential applications. DDA produced its first AR project in 2009, and we are pleased to discuss the new opportunities and advantages that have recently occurred in the Augmented Reality software development landscape. We are located just outside of Philadelphia, and our studio is fully equipped to meet any production challenge. We provide one of the most extensive skill sets of any software production company, and our highly experienced team of programmers, designers, website technicians, and multimedia specialists works diligently to implement innovative ideas and develop them into robust, intuitive, immersive, and fully interactive environments with long term value. We maintain a long list of clients in the medical and HealthCare industries, and we won Tabby Awards for our mobile health care apps in 2012 and 2014. If you are involved in the robotic surgery field and would like to talk more about the new interface possibilities Augmented Reality has in store for the technology, let's schedule a time to discuss it in detail.
