Andre Yoskowitz
21 May 2012 0:05
In one of the more useful uses of the motion control system, reseachers have begun using Kinect as a surgical assistant.
First, German researchers turned the system into a "interactive augmented reality X-ray machine" and now Microsoft Research is in the early stages of using the Kinect sensor as a surgical assistant.
Notes BGR: On May 8th, "a surgeon at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospital in London used a custom Kinect installation to browse through medical images and real-time X-rays while repairing an aneurism in a patient's aorta."
Overall, the new system will allow surgeons to call up images and perform other tasks without needing to actually touch a screen or item, avoiding contamination and saving time.
"Up until now, I'd been calling out across the room to one of our technical assistants, asking them to manipulate the image, rotate one way, rotate the other, pan up, pan down, zoom in, zoom out," adds Tom Carrell, a consultant vascular surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas'. "I thought this was going to be a lot more awkward to start off with, but I was very pleased with the way it went today."