Small, low-cost, lightweight optical tracker for surgical navigation

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 6997.2;8 LSPP-LS

Short description (English)

Small, low-cost, lightweight optical tracker for surgical navigation

Abstract (English)

This project will develop and commercialize a small, low-cost, lightweight optical tracker. This device will be used as part of a surgical navigation system and will be designed to be easy to integrate with a range of tools including surgical microscopes, scanners, etc. The objective is to create a low-cost, high-performance alternative to existing optical tracking systems, which are typically installed into the physical structure of an OR. Such conventional systems are large, bulky, and suffer from numerous problems including: limited mobility/difficult to relocate, susceptible to obstruction (e.g., surgeon blocking optical line-of-sight), and imprecise registration. We will produce a tracking system that is small and light enough to be directly attached to bone structure (hip, spine, etc.) as well as to a wide range of surgical tools. In addition, we will create a toolkit (hardware and software) that will enable surgeons and medical researchers to rapidly create fully functional systems and to conduct real-world experiments. We believe that this approach will open significant, new avenues for numerous medical disciplines including orthopedics, craniomaxillofacial-otorhinolaryngologie surgery and interventional tumor treatment