FundamentalVR showcases HaptX Gloves on Fundamental Surgery

FundamentalVR has showcased HaptX Gloves on its Fundamental Surgery platform. Demonstrated for the first time at the annual general meeting of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), FundamentalVR and HaptX are providing a glimpse of the near future where surgeons can use their entire hand and fingers as part of a virtual simulation educational experience.

The Fundamental Surgery platform was launched in August2018. It combines virtual reality (VR) with haptics (the sense of touch) tocreate a scalable ‘flight simulator’ experience for trainees and qualifiedsurgeons, allowing them to experience and navigate the same visuals, sounds andfeelings they would during real surgical procedures.

Fundamental Surgery is designed to be equipment agnostic,compatible with any laptop, VR headset or haptic device, which FundamentalVRshowcased with HaptX Gloves combined with a 3DS Haptic arm. At the heart of thesystem is the Surgical Haptic Intelligence EngineTM (SHIETM), which iscalibrated to mimic real life sensations of numerous medical tools and tissuevariants within a submillimeter accuracy of resistance.

“When it comes to surgical training simulations, a sense oftouch is a game changer, but has traditionally only been possible with immobileequipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Richard Vincent, CEO,FundamentalVR. “The Fundamental Surgery platform delivers highly sophisticatedtactile feedback at a fraction of the cost through a software approach that canwork with a range of haptic devices. Our platform currently works with hapticarms, but is designed to evolve as hardware innovations allow new products suchas HaptX Gloves to come to market.”

HaptX Gloves are powered by patented microfluidictechnology, where each glove houses 130 tactile actuators that press the user’sskin, replicating the sensation of touching a physical object. A force feedbackexoskeleton applies up to four pounds of force per finger, enhancing perceptionof shape and rigidity. Its motion capture technology tracks the user’s handmovements with sub-millimeter precision. This combination of realistic touch,powerful force and precise motion tracking delivers realistic haptic feedback.

In the first-of-its-kind demonstration, the technologyintegration of HaptX and FundamentalVR allows surgeons to use their handsnaturally in a virtual world. It enables a very detailed interaction with apatient during an Anterior Total Hip Arthroplasty, allowing users to feel thepresence of boney growth around the rim of hip socket in addition toidentifying a key ligament that helps orientate a surgeon in the next fewcritical steps.

The realistic tactile feedback goes beyond regularsimulations and helps develop the muscle memory and skills essential foreffective learning. This combined with the educational content and real-timeskills and knowledge assessment makes the platform an invaluable training tool.