It is a joint initiative between the Engineering Directorate and the Computer Information and Engineering Directorate. This research involves a collaboration among roboticists, computer scientists, biomechanicists, and surgeons at Carnegie Mellon University and Shadyside Hospital to advance the state-of-the-art in medical robotics. Robotics and computer-based technologies present medicine with excellent opportunities to improve surgical practice. Surgical robots are particularly well suited for such medical fields as orthopaedics in which there is a clinical need for accurate execution of biomechanics-based preoperative plans. To fully realize the promise of medical robotics, advances are still needed to develop: (1) surgical simulators that incorporate the complex biomechanics of biological systems, (2) clinically practical surgical cutting and registration techniques, and (3) effective methods for preoperative and intraoperative human-computer interaction. The interdisciplinary research team will create advanced numerical simulation capabilities for orthopaedics, robotic techniques for surface-based registration and high-speed 3-D sensing, and human-computer interfaces that present biomechanical and intraoperative information in a clinically meaningful manner. These advances will complement surgeons' abilities with realistic surgical simulators and less traumatic robotic tools for implementing surgical plans. The project targets total joint replacement surgery, with the expectation of broader impact on the emerging field of medical robotics and beyond. With high performance computing serving as the glue, the integration of these component technologies will lead to the next generation of computer-assisted surgical robots.
