Posted on: 09/27/2012 04:11 AM
Anyone remember the game Operation? For those of you who were deprived during their childhood, Operation is a game of extreme surgical finesse and steady hand-eye coordination...
Children were given the task of extracting various items and organs of sorts from a patient. If you were clumsy enough to touch your scalpel to your patients exposed side a buzzer would sound and you would jump a mile (or at least I did).
So what the heck does this have to do with 3D? Well, for all you adults who missed out on Operation as a child, here is your chance to play!
"NeuroTouch" is a prototype system that uses 3D graphics and haptic technology (yes, haptic - the tools used by the surgeon give life-like feedback) to recreate an actual brain surgery. Brain surgeons in training are able to practice their skills using this new system with the utmost realism. The surgeons are able to get a real feel for what it will be like to extract a tumor. Vessels pulse, veins are cauterized; It extremely realistic.
The NeuroTouch system has received high praise for its teaching potential and technological advances. Although it is a prototype, other companies have been experimenting with haptic force feedback combined with 3D displays, so we are bound to see some production versions of this technology coming soon. You can thank Sebastein Delrome, PhD, of the National Research Council Canada (yes, Canada) for the creation of this new device. You should be thankful - I wouldn't want my brain to be practiced on!