Leonardo: A First Step towards an Interactive Decision Aid for Port-Placement in Robotic Surgery

Leonardo is a prototype interactive augmented reality system designed to aid a surgeon in port-placement prior to performing robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. The system components consist of a computer, a projector, and a motion and color tracking device. The human-computer interface through which the surgeon interacts with the system is the patient´s abdomen itself. Based on the parameters of the patient body and surgical procedure, an optimized set of port locations is provided to the surgeon as colored icons projected onto the abdomen. The surgeon can adjust the suggested locations by direct manipulation with the gloved hand and fingers in real-time. This interactive decision-aid is expected to shorten the planning phase, and enhance performance of robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.