Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Projector-based surgeon–computer interaction on deformable surfaces

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Providing intuitive and easy to operate interaction for medical augmented reality is essential for use in the operating room. Commonly, intra-operative navigation information is displayed on an installed monitor, requiring the operating surgeon to change focus from the monitor to the surgical site and vice versa during navigation. Projector-based augmented reality has the potential to alleviate this problem. The aim of our work is to use a projector for visualization and to provide intuitive means for direct interaction with the projected information.

Methods

A consumer-grade projector is used to visualize preoperatively defined surgical planning data. The projection of the virtual information is possible on any deformable surface, and the surgeon can interact with the presented virtual information. A Microsoft Kinect camera is used to capture both the surgeon interactions and the deformations of the surface over time. After calibration of projector and Kinect camera, the fingertips are localized automatically. A point cloud surface representation is used to determine the surgeon interaction with the projected virtual information. Interaction is detected by estimating the proximity of the surgeon’s fingertips to the interaction zone and applying projector–Kinect calibration information. Interaction is performed using multi-touch gestures.

Results

In our experimental surgical scenario, the surgeon stands in front of the Microsoft Kinect camera, while relevant medical information is projected on the interaction zone. A hand wave gesture initiates the tracking of the hand. The user can then interact with the projected virtual information according to the defined multi-touch-based gestures. Thus, all information such as preoperative planning data is provided to the surgeon and his/her team intra-operatively in a familiar context.

Conclusion

We enabled the projection of the virtual information on an arbitrarily shaped surface and used a Microsoft Kinect camera to capture the interaction zone and the surgeon’s actions. The system eliminates the need for the surgeon to alternately view the surgical site and the monitor. The system eliminates unnecessary distractions and may enhance the surgeon’s performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bailly G, Walter R, Müller J, Ning T, Lecolinet E (2011) Comparing free hand menu techniques for distant displays using linear, marking and finger-count menus. In: Campos P, Graham N, Jorge J, Nunes N, Palanque P, Winckler M (eds) Human–computer interaction INTERACT 2011. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 6947, pp 248–262. Springer, Berlin. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23771-3_19

  2. Burrus N (2013) nestk—c++ library for kinect. https://github.com/nburrus/nestk

  3. Burrus N (2012) Rgbdemo 0.7.0. http://labs.manctl.com/rgbdemo/

  4. Douglas D, Peucker T (1973) Algorithms for the reduction of the number of points required to represent a digitized line or its caricature. Cartographica Int J Geogr Inf Geovis 10(2):112–122

    Google Scholar 

  5. Fischer J, Bartz D, Straßer W (2005) Intuitive and lightweight user interaction for medical augmented reality. Vision, modeling, and visualization. Erlangen, pp 375–382

  6. Fraunhofer MEVIS http://www.mevis.fraunhofer.de/

  7. Fraunhofer MEVIS MeVisLab. http://www.mevislab.de/

  8. Fujii K, Grossberg M, Nayar S (2005) A projector–camera system with real-time photometric adaptation for dynamic environments. In: IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR), vol 1, pp 814–821

  9. GmbH C Computer assisted soft tissue surgery. http://www.cascination.ch

  10. Graetzel C, Fong T, Grange S, Baur C (2004) A non-contact mouse for surgeon–computer interaction. Technol Health Care 12(3):245–257

    Google Scholar 

  11. Grossberg M, Peri H, Nayar S, Belhumeur P (2004) Making one object look like another: controlling appearance using a projector–camera system. In: IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR), vol I, pp 452–459

  12. Hansen C, Wieferich J, Ritter F, Rieder C, Peitgen H (2010) Illustrative visualization of 3D planning models for augmented reality in liver surgery. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg 5(2):133–141

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Harrison C, Benko H, Wilson A (2011) Omnitouch: wearable multitouch interaction everywhere. In: Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp 441–450. ACM

  14. Hartung C, Gnahm C, Sailer S, Schenderlein M, Friedl R, Hoffmann M, Dietmayer K (2009) Towards projector-based visualization for computer-assisted cabg at the open heart. Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin, pp 376–380

  15. Hoppe H, Brief J, Däuber S, Raczkowsky J, Haßfeld S, Wörn H (2001) Projector based intraoperative visualization of surgical planning data. In: Proceedings of ISRACAS

  16. Kocev B, Ojdanic D, Peitgen H (2011) An approach for projector-based surgeon–computer interaction using tracked instruments. In: Proceedings of GI workshop: emerging technologies for medical diagnosis and therapy

  17. Liu Y, Paul J, Yong J, Yu P, Zhang H, Sun J, Ramani K (2006) Automatic least-squares projection of points onto point clouds with applications in reverse engineering. Comput Aided Des 38(12):1251–1263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Mistry P, Maes P (2009) Sixthsense: a wearable gestural interface. In: ACM SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009 Sketches, pp 1–1. ACM

  19. Nayar S, Peri H, Grossberg M, Belhumeur P (2003) A projection system with radiometric compensation for screen imperfections. In: ICCV workshop on projector-camera systems (PROCAMS)

  20. Nokia Qt-cross-platform application and UI framework. http://qt.nokia.com/

  21. OpenCV Camera calibration and 3D reconstruction. http://docs.opencv.org/modules/calib3d/doc/camera_calibration_and_3d_reconstruction.html?highlight=calibratecamera#cv2.calibrateCamera

  22. OpenNI http://openni.org

  23. Parsons C (2011) Christian Parsons. http://www.chparsons.com.ar/

  24. PCL: Point Cloud Library http://pointclouds.org/

  25. Ramer U (1972) An iterative procedure for the polygonal approximation of plane curves. Comput Graph Image Process 1(3):244–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Ritter F, Hansen C, Wilkens K, Köhn A, Peitgen H (2009) Benutzungsschnittstellen für den direkten Zugriff auf 3D-Planungsdaten im OP user interfaces for direct interaction with 3D planning data in the operating room. i-com 8(1):24–31

  27. Sklansky J (1982) Finding the convex hull of a simple polygon. Pattern Recognit Lett 1(2):79–83

    Google Scholar 

  28. Stereo Calibration http://opencv.willowgarage.com/documentation/python/calib3d_camera_calibration_and_3d_reconstruction.html?highlight=stereocalibrate#StereoCalibrate

  29. Suzuki S et al (1985) Topological structural analysis of digitized binary images by border following. Comput Vis Graph Image Process 30(1):32–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. The university of edinburgh school of informatics. Computer vision it412. http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/CVonline/LOCAL_COPIES/OWENS/LECT9/lect9.html

  31. Volonté F, Pugin F, Bucher P, Sugimoto M, Ratib O, Morel P (2011) Augmented reality and image overlay navigation with Osirix in laparoscopic and robotic surgery: not only a matter of fashion. J HepatoBiliary Pancreat Sci 18(4):506–509. doi:10.1007/s00534-011-0385-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer MEVIS, Universitätsallee 29, 28359 , Bremen, Germany

    Bojan Kocev & Felix Ritter

  2. Jacobs University, Campus Ring 1, 28759 , Bremen, Germany

    Lars Linsen

Authors
  1. Bojan Kocev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Felix Ritter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lars Linsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bojan Kocev.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (mpg 33078 KB)

Supplementary material 2 (mpg 12208 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kocev, B., Ritter, F. & Linsen, L. Projector-based surgeon–computer interaction on deformable surfaces. Int J CARS 9, 301–312 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-013-0928-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-013-0928-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation