Abstract
This paper describes the architecture of real-time surgical simulators. First of all, a high performance graphics workstation based real-time simulation so that it could supply the user demand; however, there remained one problem of the cost. Then, the next simulator was developed with a personal computer in order to reduce the system cost and also new software simulating another surgery case was developed. Especially, the cost of a stereo display and haptic devices, both of which were the core components of the system and occupied the large ratio of the cost, were reduced by specifying the functions of them for ocular surgery. As a result, we succeeded in establishing a simulator that could supply the user demand of boty functions and the cost. Therefore, it has been tried to develop a neurosurgery simulator with the same components as that of the ocular surgery one. Although it remains the problem of haptic display, it is found that the specification of the stereo view can apply to not only ocular surgery but aloso neurosurgery simulators.
