REVEAL: Reconstruction, Enhancement, Visualization, and Ergonomic Assessment for Laparoscopy

Challenges in surgery have created an environment where computerized surgical solutions are being developed by a number of institutions. These computerized solutions, while laudable as individual applications created for specific purpose, have a number of problems. These problems are the result of issues with the developmental methodology used to create the applications. REMIS is an attempt to address and correct these issues. REMIS will consist of two packages, a software library and a set of user tools for application development. The software library will provide a foundation for the collaborative development of computer-based surgical applications and will help to establish best practices in surgical software engineering. The user tools will provide software development applications that will allow non-programmers to develop simple computer-based surgical applications without the need for technical knowledge of programming or fluency with programming languages. REMIS class library components fall into the following categories: extendable class library; dynamics; evaluators; environment generators; scenario scriptors; interfacing; and ergonomic analyzers. The REMIS user tools will consist of an Environment Editor, a Scenario Editor, and an Interface Editor. REMIS development has a five year schedule, including research studies into ergonomics and quality control studies into interfacing. Also, a collaborative development network will be established so that expertise from various development teams around the world can be included in REMIS.