{"id":1947,"date":"2019-12-05T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T07:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/ighi\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2020-01-29T15:53:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T15:53:32","slug":"christmas-xbox-technology-could-help-transform-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/ighi\/2019\/12\/05\/christmas-xbox-technology-could-help-transform-healthcare\/","title":{"rendered":"Not just for Christmas \u2013 how Xbox technology could help transform healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Xbox tech could soon offer a helping hand in operating theatres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many will be wishing to discover an Xbox-shaped gift glittering under the Christmas tree this year. Aside from the seemingly endless hours of entertainment, joy, frustration and competition that these consoles offer, Xbox technology \u2013 and other similar gadgets \u2013 is finding uses outside of the gaming world, and in the healthcare research sphere.<\/p>\n

Originally developed as a gaming accessory, Microsoft\u2019s Xbox Kinect uses cameras and sensors to map a space in 3D. Combined with its motion capture capability, this means the tech can not only pinpoint objects, but it can track individuals\u2019 movements and gestures. These are both key functions that could be useful in an array of healthcare settings, as research by our Hamlyn Centre and others is demonstrating.<\/p>\n

Led by Dr George Mylonas, Hamlyn Centre’s HARMS lab<\/a> focuses on using frugal innovations, coupled with techniques based on perception, to develop low-cost healthcare technologies, largely in the surgical setting. That\u2019s where the Kinect fits in, explains HARMS lab researcher Dr Alexandros Kogkas.<\/p>\n

\u201cXbox offered one of the first commercial 3D cameras on a large scale; the technology has been well-known for many years now,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was made available at scale because of gaming, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s cheap \u2013 one Kinect costs just \u00a3150, so it\u2019s relatively low-cost to deploy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xbox technology for safer surgery<\/h2>\n

One of the major ways that the lab is using Kinect technology is to ease the burden of surgeons. Performing surgery is mentally and physically exhausting. Prolonged stress means that as many as 50% of surgeons can experience burnout<\/a>. Not only does this risk the surgeon\u2019s health and wellbeing, but that of their patients, too, because of the higher likelihood of mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to use the technology to make surgery safer,\u201d says Kogkas. \u201cWhether that\u2019s by improving ergonomics, enabling better collaboration, or boosting surgeons\u2019 skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kogkas and colleagues are working on a system that can both facilitate interactions in the operating theatre and also track patterns of behaviour for analysis.<\/p>\n

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The robotic scrub nurse, left, in action during a lab trial of the tech.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For instance, helper robots have been developed to assist surgeons during procedures, which can recognise, locate and handle instruments as required. These \u201crobotic scrub nurses\u201d are designed to complement real scrub nurses, who often have to juggle many jobs at once and therefore may not be able to assist with delivering surgical tools as quickly as necessary.<\/p>\n

Using Kinects to map the room and its contents, combined with eye-tracking glasses to record the physician\u2019s focus, their system allows surgeons to control the robotic scrub nurse using only their gaze. This means they can effortlessly focus their eyes on the instrument they need, and the robot will deliver it. Check out the video below to see this in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far we\u2019ve tested this system on mock surgeries performed by real surgeons and scrub nurse teams, comparing how surgeons completed the task with and without the gaze-controlled scrub nurse,\u201d says Kogkas. \u201cWe didn\u2019t find any major differences, which means that the system is feasible and doesn\u2019t interrupt workflow. But we want to see an improvement in task performance, so we have more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n