Basic description of the topic:
In surgical education and medical device development, realistic, reproducible and objectively measurable training environments are playing an increasingly important role. Surgical phantoms enable the safe and repeatable practice of different surgical subtasks, such as cutting, suturing, dissection, coagulation or instrument manipulation. The evaluation of training tasks based on video and sensor data can contribute to the objective assessment of surgical skills and the detailed analysis of operating room workflows.
The candidate’s task is to develop a modular surgical training phantom and the related objective evaluation methodology in the simulated operating room environment of the Óbuda University MedTech Innovation and Education Center. The work includes the definition of relevant surgical training tasks, the design and fabrication of replaceable phantom modules, and the development of measurement and evaluation methods suitable for characterizing task execution accuracy, time, errors, motion patterns or instrument use. For the fabrication of the phantom modules, the 3D printing capabilities available at the MedTech Innovation and Education Center, as well as silicone casting techniques based on 3D-printed molds, can also be used.
Detailed tasks:
- Literature overview in the field of surgical phantoms, training platforms, skill assessment methods and video-/sensor-based evaluation approaches;
- Getting acquainted with the operating room unit, instrument set, 3D printing capabilities and relevant training tasks of the MedTech Innovation and Education Center;
- Definition of the technical and functional requirements for the training phantom and evaluation system to be developed;
- Development of a modular phantom concept for different training tasks, such as cutting, suturing, dissection, coagulation or instrument manipulation;
- Design and fabrication of replaceable phantom modules using 3D-printed components, 3D-printed molds and silicone casting techniques;
- Development of a video- or sensor-based data acquisition protocol for the objective measurement of training tasks;
- Definition of evaluation metrics based on execution time, accuracy, number of errors, amount of motion or instrument use characteristics;
- Testing of the phantom system and evaluation methodology in a simulated operating room environment;
- Evaluation of the usability, repeatability and further development possibilities of the developed system.
Over the course of the project, the student will have the opportunity to become familiar with the research infrastructure of the Óbuda University MedTech Innovation and Education Center and the Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics, and to get involved in the research and development activities carried out there.