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Technology which could transform surgery and the teaching of medical students is being developed here in Kent.
Research and development company i3D robotics, based in Tonbridge, has won funding to develop a virtual-reality training platform to allow trainee medics to learn remotely and perform simulation surgeries.
Their Stereo Theatre project could also one day enable senior consultants to be part of operations conducted by junior consultants without them having to be in the same physical location.
This will mean more patients being observed by experienced surgeons, as well as junior surgeons gaining advice from more experienced colleagues in real-life scenarios.
Dr Benjamin Crutchley, senior software engineer at i3D robotics, said: “Stereo Theatre potentially offers a revolutionary approach to both the teaching of medical students and surgical procedures as it enables the remote viewing of operations.
"This is advantageous for remote senior surgeons to offer advice on what the local surgical team should perform, and for medical students who will be able to re-experience surgical procedures to improve their learning."
The company's machine vision technology, proven in other industrial settings requiring a digital representation of the physical world, will create a virtual reality digital twin of a patient in an operating theatre.
This information can then be used by the local surgical team to make better informed procedural decisions, or can be accessed by remote surgeons in any location to allow them to offer advice.
Funding from the Government’s Fast Start competition will be used by the company to develop a demonstrator that uses the latest 2D imaging and 3D mapping technology to allow for integration with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
The demonstrator will be tested in the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre digital operating theatre to prove the technology can monitor a real-world patient to update a digital twin displayed in VR and AR in real or near-real time.
