Impact:

This simulator is one of the world’s first to closely approximate the “touch and feel” of the da Vinci™ robotic surgical system. The most widely used system of its kind in the world, the da Vinci robotic surgical system affords all the features that an experienced surgeon needs to ensure equivalent or superior outcomes to conventional surgery. The Robotic Surgical Simulator (RoSS) addresses the rapidly growing need for a realistic training environment for robot-assisted surgery, a field that is expanding exponentially. Robotic surgeries are generally less invasive, cause less pain, require shorter hospital stays and allow faster recoveries than conventional surgery. Robotic-surgical systems are increasingly being used for gynecologic, gastrointestinal, cardiothoracic, pediatric and other urologic surgeries. UB’s Virtual Reality Lab is one of very few such labs in the nation to focus on developing haptic technologies—technologies that bring a sense of touch to virtual reality.