Thursday, June 26, 2008

Web 2.0 for Simulation

Web 2.0 is a term often invoked to describe social networks, blogs, wikis, and similar tools that allow ad hoc groups to form around topics of interest. These tools are just beginning to be considered as business IT applications. In a military simulation domain, they could become the tools with which exercises are planned and the data from simulations is collected.I believe some of these will emerge at the next IT tool equivalent to email and the web browser. I cannot be certain which application is will be but I would put my money on the Wiki for real business and military operations.


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Monday, June 2, 2008

Virtual Surgery

Dr. Richard Satava, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, believes that a realistic future improvement in surgery is “virtual surgery”. His definition of this term is a surgical process that involves the following steps:

  • Patient is scanned with MRI to create an accurate digital model of their body and internal organs.
  • The surgeon operates on this virtual model until he/she arrives at a perfect procedure that is best for this patient. The surgery procedures can be edited just as you would edit a Word document until you remove all errors.
  • Upload the surgery to a robot that can follow the surgery file exactly. This is similar to a manufacturing robot which can cut metal parts more accurately than a human.
  • Let the robot perform the surgery under the observation of a surgeon who can override if necessary.

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