University of Victoria

Purpose

The use of robotics in orthopedic surgery substantially reduces the patient recovery time and enhances the operation’s efficiency, reliability, autonomy, and standardization. Despite these advantages, issues such as cost, safety, and training must be addressed before Robot-Assisted Orthopedic Surgery (RAOS) becomes widely available. This Project will employ a digital twin approach to help reduce the cost and increase the safety of RAOS technology. Offline and in-process computer simulations are a key part of the current RAOS systems. This Project seeks to enhance these simulations by integrating the process physics (e.g. forces, temperature, vibrations). Specifically, the Project focuses on combining physics-based and data-driven methods to develop high-fidelity and high-efficiency models of the process physics during RAOS. These models will then be used to develop a pilot software, ultimately leading to the envisioned digital twin.