January 25, 2011

UW Uses Kinect to Assist Robotic Surgery

A University of Washington team of students have been playing with Kinect and robots, but not to play games. Instead, they are adapting the controller to assist in robotic surgery. Physicians usually use joysticks and small cameras to see the inside of a patient, but there is no "feel" to the operation. UW Grad student Fredrik Ryden wrote a code that allows the Kinect to function in 3D and puts an electronic restriction so that the tool will not go too far. It is estimated that using the controller saved the team about $50,000 in funding, but still has a ways to go before being released.

Via Daily UW