Haptics-driven healthcare training simulator systems

This chapter discusses the reasons and advantages of incorporating visual-haptic interactions for healthcare training simulations, and analyses the limitations of various existing haptic systems. Coupled with the advances in interactive visual rendering, immersive virtual reality and augmented reality, haptic training systems are able to enhance the healthcare training experience and provide comprehensive training solutions for the healthcare community, particularly in invasive and interventional environments. A number of key factors determine the effectiveness and practicability of a healthcare training simulator system. The chapter discusses these factors to highlight the necessity and advantages of incorporating haptics in healthcare training: immersion and realism, interactivity, repeatability, and measurable procedures and results. In recent years there has been new research effort in promoting healthcare training simulator systems. Some work focuses on the rendering and interaction algorithms for rigid (such as bone) and deformable (such as soft tissue) 3D models, while other work is more on specific medical training applications.