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We introduce the notion of Shader Lamps Virtual Patients (SLVP) - the combination of projector-based Shader Lamps Avatars and interactive virtual humans. This paradigm uses Shader Lamps Avatars technology to give a 3D physical presence to conversational virtual humans, improving their social interactivity and enabling them to share the physical space with the user. The paradigm scales naturally to multiple viewers, allowing for scenarios where an instructor and multiple students are involved in the training. We have developed a physical-virtual patient for medical students to conduct ophthalmic exams, in an interactive training experience. In this experience, the trainee practices multiple skills simultaneously, including using a surrogate optical instrument in front of a physical head, conversing with the patient about his fears, observing realistic head motion, and practicing patient safety. Here we present a prototype system and results from a preliminary formative evaluation of the system.

The Autosuture™ Endostitch ™ device (Covidien, CT) is difficult to learn. In particular, the handle requires the use of a toggle which is unique in this instrument. We have developed a virtual reality trainer for the device that offers the use of the actual instrument handle while creating a visible virtual instrument tip complete with virtual needle and suture on a monitor. This report represents the development and initial validation experiments for the device.

Modeling soft tissue for surgery simulation is a challenging task due to the complex way that the tissue can deform and interact with virtual surgical tools manipulated by user. One soft tissue that is ubiquitous but often not modeled, is fatty tissue. Here we present a novel fatty tissue model based on the mass-spring system on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) as part of our Toolkit for Illustration of Procedures in Surgery (TIPS). The user can interact with the fatty tissue in real time via a handheld haptic stylus that represents a virtual surgical tool in TIPS environment. The currently available interactions are palpation, grasp, and cut.

Good surgical training depends greatly on case experiences that have been difficult to model in software since current training technology does not provide the flexibility to teach and practice uncommon procedures, or to adjust a training scenario on the fly. The TIPS kit aims to overcome these limitations. To the expert, it presents visual and haptic tools that make illustrating procedures easy and can model unusual anatomic variations. For a non-specialist, it provides a locally customized learning environment and repeated practice in a safe environment. We used the toolkit to illustrate removal of the adrenal gland.

Real-time, plausible visual and haptic feedback of deformable objects without shape artifacts is important in surgical simulation environments to avoid distracting the user. We propose to leverage highly parallel stream processing, available on the newest generation graphics cards, to increase the level of both visual and haptic fidelity. We implemented this as part of the University of Florida's haptic surgical authoring kit.