Development of Wireless Surgical Knife Attachment with Proximity Indicators Using ArUco Marker

We have been developing a liver surgical support system. By matching the depth images of the real liver and the 3D liver model during surgery, the position of the liver, invisible blood vessels and tumors is estimated. The tip position of the surgical knife is measured by single point measurements camera using specific markers. By merging all information, the distance between the knife tip and the target parts such as vessels or tumors is calculated and the proximity of the knife to the target parts is determined. To indicate the proximity, we have been developing a surgical knife attachment with light emitting diodes (LEDs). When the knife approaches to the target parts, the LEDs on the attachment gradually turn on the light. The newly developed attachment becomes compact and lightweight than the previous one. It uses a wireless controller and ArUco markers which can be tracked by an inexpensive USB camera. We conducted experiments to check the performance of ArUco markers and the navigation of the operator using the new attachment. The results showed the new attachment had comparable navigation accuracy to the previous one.