Development of an augmented reality recontrolled robot for medical applications

Augmented reality (AR) and robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) have played a pivotal role in clinical advancement of surgeries in recent years. RAS systems such as the DaVinci Surgical System have achieved great success in improving surgical intricacy of motion and efficiency, in parallel with painless anaesthetic-based procedures. AR, on the other hand, provides the ability to display surgery imagery via a graphic user interface. The AR technology has proved successful for various surgical procedures and early results show improved situation awareness and visual deviation. It is imperative to carry out research on features such as activation on demand to improve dexterity and image clarity. Although work is still active on the above concepts, it shall prove to be an invaluable asset to clinicians worldwide. In this research project, we aim to (i) review the state-of-the-art of AR technology in RAS and the potential developments on AR-ready surgical systems available on the market, and (ii) work with some local hospitals as well as mechanical engineering industries to prototype and test an AR technology which can help surgeons in executing detailed surgical operations.