Comment by abrichr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by abrichr | Hacker News Reader

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I showed this app to my dad, who's a doctor, and he was blown away. He was visibly excited about the potential for a device he can use to spin around CT and MRI scans in the operating room without having to touch a mouse/joystick - currently he has a person doing this for him to keep things sterile, and this can sometimes be frustrating.

This is exactly the value proposition of my startup, TouchFree Labs. We're developing software that uses the Leap Motion Controller to allow surgeons to manipulate medical images inside of the operating room. You can see a demonstration of an early prototype here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaO-cimDOEQ. Demo starts at about 35s. (Apologies in advance for the low production value.)

Right now our bottleneck is medical expertise, and we're looking for surgeons who would be interested in collaborating with us. We're developing workflows that are tailored for different types of procedures, which requires very specialized knowledge. The application also learns the nuances of individual users' movements to improve gesture recognition, which requires lots of data.

I don't know how far away you are from Toronto, but if you could pass the message along to your dad, I'd be very grateful--if only to get some basic feedback. But if he's interested, he could be among the first surgeons in the world to use the Leap Motion inside of an operating room.

Is there anything you can say about how you arranged a license for this use? The default Leap EULA forbids use with medical equipment, as well as use on a shared work-station.

We're still working on this. But since our product won't be used for diagnostics or direct surgery, the regulatory requirements should be a bit more relaxed.

Nice video, and this is a great target market. My dad's in India so collaboration could be a challenge :) PM me if you think he can still help though - I'm here on vacation for a few more weeks.

BTW, not sure if you saw the following video - it was embedded in the last newsletter from Leap, and shows a vet controlling OsiriX (an open source viewer for medical/DICOM images) using Leap: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152121411384392

Looks like a little hokey compared to cyber science or your app, but the approach of simply plugging into and enhancing an existing viewer seemed quite pragmatic.

Neat stuff. I work near U of T, and I've got an Oculus VR. Want to get together for lunch?

Re: video production values, one simple improvement would be to start with action. Start with a quick clip of you manipulating the image, without any explanation. After you've elicited a "Wow!", then explain.

The Oculus looks awesome. What do you think of it after using it?

Lunch would be great! Send me an email and we'll figure it out.

And thanks for the tip regarding the video; I'll keep it in mind for the next one.

My parents are both physicians (though not surgeons); I'm sure they'd be interested in what you are doing, and should be able to connect you with some interested surgeons, please send me an e-mail at eli[at]storied[dot]us if you'd like an intro.

Done.

Why don't you just bring your product to the hospital where you work?

It's in the works. But the more surgeons we get on board, the better.

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