You just might hear millions of kids across the world smile, sigh and say “I told you so”. To what might they may be referring? Well, the idea that the Xbox is a very useful and necessary device and they would be right despite the fact that moms across the globe are cringing.
Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in Toronto is using the Xbox Kinect gaming system in operating rooms. How is it useful? Well, CBS News has reported on the benefits of such a product right inside the operating room.
The gaming system would allow the surgeons to review imaging scans right from the operating room. This alleviates the possible hygiene problem of maintaining a germ free operating room, which doctor’s sometimes face when it was necessary to leave the OR to review or gather additional information.
Dr. Calvin Law, a surgeon at Sunnybrook commented, “We’re able to bring that computer as if it was the last member of our team, into the working field of the operating room.”
Microsoft commented on the new use for Kinect, which they say can revitalize the operating room. Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, told a medical conference in June that he “envisions patients one day can attend group therapy sessions with other patients and doctors behind the anonymous guise of an avatar that mimics a person’s movements and facial expressions”.
“For all surgeries we do today, really, image guidance is a key to helping the surgeon,” noted Dr. Law, “It’s like having a GPS for your car.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Ep3oqicVU&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
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- Doctors use Xbox in operating rooms: How? (cbsnews.com)
Kinect is probably one of the most innovative and game changing products Microsoft has developed since Windows 95 or Office– and maybe even more so. The wide range of uses that people have been finding for the Kinect system are pretty staggering, especially when you factor in the relatively low cost of the system. I have to give their engineers props for the product, and their marketing department for not charging an arm and a leg for it. It is pretty revolutionary considering its cost and capabilities, and although it does leave room for improvement for professional applications, it is more than adequate to use to find new applications for the technology.
I think this application is really cool and it’s not one that I’d have thought of. Brilliant!