A new novel virtual simulation system for robot-assisted orthopedic surgery

Abstract

With the current availability of advanced robotics and virtual reality technology, Surgical simulation has become one of the most promising areas in modern medicine. The paper proposes a novel desktop virtual surgical simulation system capable of not only surgical training but also operative planning, surgery rehearsal and telesurgery, which is mainly used on the robot-assisted orthopedic surgery system, FLIT-RAOS. The paper fist introduces the hardware system of FLIT-RAOS, then highlights the process of building the virtual environment. In the course of this process, firstly, Pro/E, Javd3D and VRML are chosen to built the virtual simulation models of each robot consisting of the surgery system, secondly, a novel and reliable finite element method is used to built the biomechanical human model of the leg, and accordingly the force-distance curve diagram is created through this model, then the virtual orthopedic surgery simulation system is gotten through integrating the robot models and the biomechanical model. Lastly, a teleoperation system for the surgery simulation is built to test the availability and real-time of this virtual surgery simulation system.