Biomedical Modeling and Visualization

Featured Projects

• Acetabular Guide for Hip Replacement Surgery

A novel approach was developed for acetabular alignment during the implant of a prosthetic hip joint in a natural pelvis. The alignment instrument uses selective anatomic bony landmarks on the pelvis, which are accessible in surgery, to guide the placement of the acetabular component in the appropriate orientation. A closed form solution, involving both a forward and inverse kinematic analysis, was developed by the VRCIM Laboratory to relate the parameters of the device with the abduction and anteversion angles. Using the equations derived in this study, the pelvic statistics, and the device itself, a surgeon should be able to accurately place the acetabular component to a specific abduction and anteversion angle (within a range).

 

• Participatory Ergonomics Using Immersive Environments and Simulation Tools

The focus of this project is a synergistic system that consists of an interactive immersive simulation tool that has been developed in-house and integrated with a commercial human modeling simulation system. This system has been designed, implemented, and tested successfully at the VRCIM Laboratory.

The impetus of the real-time integration is to allow the complementary use of two powerful simulation tools by allowing the user to perform the task naturally in an immersive environment, while the body posture information is continuously and automatically passed to the human modeling system for a continuous (and not discrete) analysis of the participatory ergonomic issues under consideration. This facilitates integration of ergonomic issues early in the design and planning phases of workplace layouts, even where the physical facility does not exist. The proposed integration has been demonstrated using examples from the manufacturing sector.