Surgical Simulation Workstation based on the DepthCube 3D Display

"We propose to develop a general purpose PC based surgical simulation workstation utilizing our new DepthCube 3D DisplayO technology combined with Sensible Technologies' PhantomO haptic interface. The DepthCube display creates full color true 3D volumetricimages that float in space where they can be touched and felt through an appropriately calibrated and aligned haptic interface. The workstation will integrate the DepthCube display and haptic interfaces into a single hardware assembly. We will also developand integrate a simulation workstation application programming interface (SWAPI) that will allow simulator developers to define the visual and tactile characteristics of their simulated anatomy through a haptic extended version of OpenGL. The API willmanage all of the visual and tactile resources of the workstation leaving the developer free to concentrate on the challenges of simulating anatomy and developing surgical training methodology. By building their software around our simulation workstationand API the simulator developers are guaranteed a set of reliable and integrated visual and tactile resources. They also obtain flexibility by being able to run a range of simulation applications on a single platform. The proposed system will also provideportability by being what we hope is a commonly available simulation resource. Surgical simulation systems for training, pre-operative planning, and the development of new surgical proce