VRmagic is a cooperation partner in the award-winning “Intelligent Tool Drive” project of the University of Heidelberg
At the AUTOMATICA Trade Fair in Munich yesterday, the "Walter Reis - Innovation Award for Robotics" was awarded to a hand-held operation robot developed by an interdisciplinary team consisting of different departments at the University of Heidelberg and regional companies. The operation system also received a second prize in the Service Robotics category with a value of 2500 euros.
The participants in the “Intelligent Tool Drive” project included the Orthopedics and Accident Surgery Center in the Medical Faculty at the University of Heidelberg, the Central Institute for Technical Informatics at the University of Heidelberg, MRC Systems GmbH from Heidelberg and the Mannheim-based company VRmagic GmbH.
The goal of the working group led by Dr. Markus Schwarz from the Laboratory for Biomechanics and Experimental Orthopedics at the University Clinic Mannheim is to develop a device that will allow surgeons to carry out bone drilling and milling operations with a greater degree of precision. Such a device allows the benefits of exact, computer-aided navigation offered by robotic systems to be combined with the manual methods and experience of surgeons: The “Intelligent Tool Drive” gives the surgeon full control over the operation, while the robot compensates in real time for any unsteadiness in the surgeon’s hand, patient movements and vibrations caused by the system.
VRmagic provides support for the team in implementation of the optical tracking system, which records the movements of the patient and operating device, and provides camera components. The system uses a high-sensitivity 1-inch sensor with 1.3 megapixels operated at a speed of 100 Hz.
The tracking system developed in the project is scalable: Several cameras are flexibly positioned so that tracking is not impeded by any obstacles during use. A FPGA module (Field Programmable Gate Array) and a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) pre-process the image data in the camera in order to minimize system latency. 3D reconstruction then takes place in the connected host system, and this information is used by the robot to move the instrument onto the path planned before the start of surgery.
