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SmartSIM ‐ a virtual reality simulator for laparoscopy training using a generic physics engine
Author(s) -
Khan Zohaib Amjad,
Kamal Nabeel,
Hameed Asad,
Mahmood Amama,
Zainab Rida,
Sadia Bushra,
Mansoor Shamyl Bin,
Hasan Osman
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the international journal of medical robotics and computer assisted surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1478-596X
pISSN - 1478-5951
DOI - 10.1002/rcs.1771
Subject(s) - computer science , virtual reality , flexibility (engineering) , human–computer interaction , implementation , interface (matter) , physics engine , software , simulation , multimedia , software engineering , operating system , maximum bubble pressure method , statistics , mathematics , bubble
Virtual reality (VR) training simulators have started playing a vital role in enhancing surgical skills, such as hand–eye coordination in laparoscopy, and practicing surgical scenarios that cannot be easily created using physical models. We describe a new VR simulator for basic training in laparoscopy, i.e. SmartSIM, which has been developed using a generic open‐source physics engine called the simulation open framework architecture (SOFA). This paper describes the systems perspective of SmartSIM including design details of both hardware and software components, while highlighting the critical design decisions. Some of the distinguishing features of SmartSIM include: (i) an easy‐to‐fabricate custom‐built hardware interface; (ii) use of a generic physics engine to facilitate wider accessibility of our work and flexibility in terms of using various graphical modelling algorithms and their implementations; and (iii) an intelligent and smart evaluation mechanism that facilitates unsupervised and independent learning.