VRmagic Participates in the Medical Discovery Tour at VISION 2011
VRmagic demonstrates optical real-time tracking with FPGA-assisted image processing in a virtual reality training simulator for eye surgeons
As part of the Medical Discovery Tour at this year’s VISION trade fair for image processing technology in Stuttgart from 8th to 10th November, VRmagic will demonstrate optical real-time tracking in a virtual reality training simulator for eye surgeons. An FPGA-based multi-sensor camera is used here that supplies the pixel-synchronous image data of four remote sensors via a single USB 2.0 port after data coordination and compression on the FPGA. The flexible design of the camera requires minimum installation space and permits realization of precise 3D tracking. VRmagic has been the market leader in the area of virtual reality simulators for eye surgeon training since 2001. A second division of the company specializes in camera systems for machine vision applications.
The Eyesi® eye surgery simulator from VRmagic allows trainee eye surgeons to practice surgical operations without any risk to patients - just like pilot training on a flight simulator. All of the important aspects of a real OR environment have been integrated in the virtual reality simulator: the surgeon sits at an operating microscope and inserts freely movable surgical instruments in the mechanical eye of a model head. Inside the head, the four-head multi-sensor camera follows the movements of the instruments and transmits information about their position, alignment and orientation to a computer. Without any perceptible time delay, the training system simulates the behavior of fluids and tissue during the virtual operation. Instead of a real image, the surgeon sees a deceptively realistic simulation on the stereo displays of the microscope.
Optical tracking inside the model patient head is performed using color markers: both the rotatable mechanical eye and the tips of the surgical instruments are color-marked. The 3D coordinates of the objects can be determined precisely by comparison of the 2D images from the four camera sensors. For this purpose, parallel pre-processing of the pixel-synchronous image data first takes place on the FPGA of the multi-sensor camera. The losslessly compressed data stream is then forwarded via a single USB cable to the computer, where further evaluation and 3D reconstruction of the instruments take place.
Press information of the VISION 2011 press conference at VRmagic July 7, 2011
Photos of the press conference at VRmagic July 7, 2011 on the VISION website
VRmagic at the VISION trade fair: Hall 4, Booth 4B72
Caption below:
VISION 2011, press conference at VRmagic Holding AG, Mannheim: (from left) Dr. Markus Schill, VRmagic Holding AG, Dr. Olaf Munkelt, VDMA Machine Vision, Frankfurt/Main and Thomas Walter, Messe Stuttgart
