THEO: Tactile and Haptics Enabled Open Surgery Simulator

Extant virtually reality surgical simulators are predominantly focused on simulating minimally invasive surgeries where the surgeon"s interaction is with long tools through fixed access ports. Infoscitex is building on the considerable body of work generated in developing the tissue properties and image generation engines for these simulators, along with more recent work in haptic and tactile feedback, to create a realistic simulator for open surgery. Tactile feedback sufficiently detailed for textural information enables the Tactile and Haptics Enabled Open (THEO) Surgery Simulator to simulate the feel of open surgery as well as the use of tools, therefore creating a truly multi-purpose simulator for a wide range of applications. Infoscitex is partnered with clinical collaborators at the Lahey Clinic and research collaborators at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to develop the THEO surgery simulator.