3D Tracking and Positioning of Surgical Instruments in Virtual Surgery Simulation

3D tracking and positioning of surgical instruments is an indispensable part of virtual Surgery training system, because it is the unique interface for trainee to communicate with virtual environment. A suit of 3D tracking and positioning of surgical instruments based on stereoscopic vision is proposed. It can capture spatial movements of simulated surgical instrument in real time, and provide 6 degree of freedom information with the absolute error of less than 1 mm. The experimental results show that the 3D tracking and positioning of surgical instruments is highly accurate, easily operated, and inexpensive. Combining with force sensor and embedded acquisition device, this 3D tracking and positioning method can be used as a measurement platform of physical parameters to realize the measurement of soft tissue parameters.