We consider the problem of classifying surgical gestures and skill level in robotic surgical tasks. Prior work in this area models gestures as states of a hidden Markov model (HMM) whose observations are discrete, Gaussian or factor analyzed. While successful, these approaches are limited in expressive power due to the use of discrete or Gaussian observations. In this paper, we propose a new mo...

THE GRAPPLING SPORTS OF JUDO, JIU-JITSU, AND WRESTLING REQUIRE THE ATHLETE TO BE IN PEAK PHYSICAL SHAPE. SPECIFIC TRAINING TARGETING ALL HEALTHAND SKILL-RELATED FITNESS CONDITIONING COMPONENTS IS NEEDED TO MAXIMIZE SUCCESS IN GRAPPLING SPORTS. STRENGTH AND CONDITION PROGRAMS FOR GRAPPLERS CONSIST OF WEIGHT, PLYOMETRIC, AGILITY, FLEXIBILITY, SPEED, AND AEROBIC TRAINING ALL PROPERLY PERIODIZED AN...

We observe that expert surgeons performing MIS learn to minimize their tool path length and avoid collisions with vital structures. We thus conjecture that an expert surgeon's tool paths can be predicted by minimizing an appropriate energy function. We hypothesize that this reference path will be closer to an expert with greater skill, as measured by an objective measurement instrument such as ...

OBJECTIVE To describe the postgraduate surgical skills training programme of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VVOG*). Laparoscopic surgical techniques and indications have increased substantially during the past two decades. From surgeons it is expected that they keep up with all techniques and should be able to perform all relevant procedures. Learning new procedures in daily...

This paper examines the issues that arise in the broad area of competence assessment in surgical practice, with particular reference to the objective assessment of technical skill which has historically been the weakest aspect of assessment in surgical training. To facilitate a thorough appraisal of competence, a simple model of surgical practice is advanced, followed by a review of both curren...

This paper reports our progress in developing techniques for "parsing" raw motion data from a simple surgical task into a labeled sequence of surgical gestures. The ability to automatically detect and segment surgical motion can be useful in evaluating surgical skill, providing surgical training feedback, or documenting essential aspects of a procedure. If processed online, the information can ...

The General Surgical Training Programmes worldwide are designed to ensure that the advanced surgical trainee in surgery achieves competency in knowledge, skill and attitude, both operative and non-operative in a wide range of common surgical conditions, enabling the trainee to practice competently as a surgeon. Therefore, the goal of the surgical training is to train broad-based, highly qualifi...