A Gesture-Based Interface for Remote Surgery

International audienceThere has been a great deal of research activity in computer- and robot-assisted surgeries in recent years. Some of the advances have included robotic hip surgery, image-guided endoscopic surgery, and the use of intra-operative MRI to assist in neurosurgery. However, most of the work in the literature assumes that all of the expert surgeons are physically present close to the location of a surgery. A new direction that is now worth investigating is assisting in performing surgeries remotely. As a first step in this direction, this chapter presents a system that can detect movement of hands and fingers, and thereby detect gestures, which can be used to control a catheter remotely. Our development is aimed at performing remote endovascular surgery by controlling the movement of a catheter through blood vessels. Our hand movement detection is facilitated by sensors, like LEAP, which can track the position of fingertips and the palm. In order to make the system robust to occlusions, we have improved the implementation by optimally integrating the input from two different sensors. Following this step, we identify high-level gestures, like push and turn, to enable remote catheter movements. To simulate a realistic environment we have fabricated a flexible endovascular mold, and also a phantom of the abdominal region with the endovascular mold integrated inside. A mechanical device that can remotely control a catheter based on movement primitives extracted from gestures has been built. Experimental results are shown demonstrating the accuracy of the system

Building information modelling in construction: insights from collaboration and change management perspectives

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. A case study is used to obtain the experiences from a contractor and their subcontractors involved with constructing the landmark Perth Stadium, which required a building information model (BIM) to be delivered for the purpose of asset management. Insights about ‘how’ the adoption of a BIM influenced the practice of collaboration and change management within the project are obtained. It was revealed that having limited experience and knowledge to deliver a model for asset management often resulted the project team ‘muddling through a problem’. This was not necessarily due to a shortage of training, but a lack of BIM knowledge, which inadvertently influenced every day practice. The research presented builds on the extant body of works that have examined how the construction industry can effectively acquire the benefits of BIM for asset management. It also highlights the need to incorporate education and learning into a project’s BIM implementation strategy