Backgrounder: A Decade of Innovation in UB's Virtual Reality Lab

The Robotic Surgery Simulator (RoSS) that is being marketed by Buffalo-based Simulated Surgical Systems LLC has its roots in a decade of research innovations developed and commercialized by researchers in the University at Buffalo's Virtual Reality Lab.

Under the direction of Thenkurussi ("Kesh") Kesavadas, PhD, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the UB Virtual Reality Lab has been focused on ways to virtually transmit some of the most unique and difficult-to-imitate skills that humans have.

"The RoSS demonstrates our work on improving human skills that require fine motor control," he says. "Using the simulator, a surgeon who is training can learn the same skills that good robotic surgeons have. The product merges our virtual reality research with Dr. Khurshid Guru's expertise in robotic surgery to come up with an innovative approach for training."

Creation of the RoSS is an example of how UB and RPCI research can be commercialized and brought to the marketplace to benefit society.

According to Kesavadas, part of the UB Virtual Reality Lab's success lies in the fact that unlike most university VR labs, which are located in departments of computer science, the UB Virtual Reality Lab is in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

"As mechanical engineers, we build both software and hardware," he says, noting that UB's Virtual Reality lab is one of just a handful of research centers in the U.S. focused on design and manufacturing applications of virtual reality.

"The RoSS is a prime example of how UB's Virtual Reality Lab combines innovations in hardware and software through engineering and simulation," Kesavadas says. "It demonstrates that we are committed to applying VR to enhance one of the most sophisticated human skills, in this case, surgery."

As far back as 2000, Kesavadas was working on medical applications for virtual reality, including development of a VR glove that could allow for the examination of patients at remote locations.

Simulated Surgical Systems LLC, which is marketing the RoSS, is the second Western New York company Kesavadas has co-founded as a result of UB research.

He also is a co-founder of Tactus Technologies, based in Getzville, N.Y., a provider of virtual reality, visualization and simulation products and services. In other collaborations with Tactus Technologies, the UB Virtual Reality Lab's mechanical engineers conducted research that resulted in a 3-D virtual clay sculpting software package that came on the market last month; the product, called Protean, speeds up computational design of complex, organic shapes.

The SUNY Research Foundation and Health Research, Inc., the technology transfer arm of RPCI, jointly licensed the RoSS technology to Simulated Surgical Systems, LLC.