Motion Tracking of Surgical Tools

Medical students need a way to objectively demonstrate improved performance when learning how to use surgical tools in orthopedic surgery. To provide objective evidence that the user (surgical trainee) can repeatably drill through bone material at a desired angle in space, and also find the same angle using subsequent tools (depth gage, screwdriver), we have devised a system of mounting a removable inertial measurement unit (IMU) onto surgical tools.

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Skills: Arduino microcontroller programming, IMU Sensors, SolidWorks CAD modeling, 3D printing, woodworking, rapid prototyping, data analysis

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This project was initiated in collaboration between engineers at the University of California, San Diego, and medical students at the University of Michigan.