What You Should Know:
– Haptikos™, Inc. is now shipping its new hand exoskeleton, a innovative device set to transform medical training, simulation, and robotic surgery by bringing a realistic sense of touch to virtual and remote environments. With prototypes already in use by leading institutions like
The National Maternity Hospital Dublin® and Siemens®, the technology is designed to make every virtual medical interaction deeply immersive and precise.
– The Haptikos ecosystem, which combines the advanced exoskeleton with the company’s AI-infused Haptik_OS™ software, allows medical professionals to feel everything from the subtle pulse of a heartbeat to the varied textures of tissue in a virtual setting, heralding a new era for healthcare innovation.
A New Era for Surgical Training and Medical Simulation
One of the most significant applications for the Haptikos exoskeleton is in medical training and simulation. The technology moves beyond simple visual representations, allowing surgeons, medical students, and clinicians to develop muscle memory and procedural skills in a tangible, lifelike digital environment.
By providing realistic haptic feedback, the exoskeleton enables users to:
- Feel the distinct sensations of different tissues and materials.
- Practice delicate procedures with a true sense of touch and resistance.
- Enhance realism in surgical simulations, leading to better-prepared and more confident practitioners.
This capability transforms virtual training from a purely visual exercise into a multi-sensory experience that more accurately reflects real-world clinical scenarios.
Unprecedented Precision for Telemedicine and Robotics
The Haptikos hand exoskeleton is engineered for the high-stakes world of medicine, offering specifications that are unmatched in the industry. With 24 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) per hand and sub-millimeter motion accuracy, the device provides the fidelity required for complex medical tasks.
This level of precision unlocks new possibilities for:
- Robot-Assisted Surgery: Surgeons can gain a more intuitive and tactile connection to their robotic instruments, potentially leading to safer and more precise operations.
- Remote Diagnostics (Telemedicine): In the future, a clinician could use the exoskeleton to “feel” a patient’s pulse or palpate tissue from hundreds of miles away, adding a critical diagnostic layer to virtual consultations.
The combination of detailed motion tracking and realistic haptic feedback ensures that every subtle movement is translated with accuracy, a non-negotiable requirement for medical applications.
AI-Powered OS to Accelerate Medical Innovation
At the heart of the ecosystem is the Haptik_OS, an AI-infused application that simplifies the development of custom medical simulations. By seamlessly integrating with the Unity® SDK, the OS allows medical institutions, researchers, and med-tech companies to create their own haptic-based training and research applications with greater ease.
The built-in AI functionality can automatically adapt haptic libraries to new applications, lowering the barrier to entry and empowering more innovation across the healthcare landscape.
Pricing and Availability
The Haptikos ecosystem is available for purchase now at www.haptikos.tech, priced at €2500 for a set of exoskeletons and €1000 for a 12-month Haptik_OS license. The company notes that its solution is available for less than half the cost of competing systems.
