Capturing a Surgical Area Using Multiple Depth Cameras Mounted on a Robotic Mechanical System

In our surgical navigation study, we construct a mechanical system for steadily capturing several surgical scenes by using two parallel robotic sliders and multiple vision cameras. In this paper, we first determine how to select an adequate time interval during which each camera projects a pattern to calculate depth against an organ. If multiple cameras project and receive patterns simultaneously, pattern interferences occur around the organ and, consequently, the cameras cannot capture depth images. Second, we investigate whether few or no occlusions occur in several surgical scenarios for an organ operation. Finally, we check experimentally whether distance precision in depth images is exactly maintained when a surgeon raises the camera to insert a microscope during a microsurgery. If the above functions are performed correctly, our proposed transcription algorithms for position, orientation, and shape from a real organ to its virtual polyhedron’s organ with STL-format play an active part during an actual surgery.