Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Google glass2? A surgeon's ongoing wish list.

GOOGLE GLASS IN SURGERY , great potential but needs much more. Hopefully with a new design or even a SEPARATE product for healthcare and specifically surgeons improvements will occur in later models. I know this  has all been said before so sorry to those who find this redundant. There is no huge new insight here but unless its said over again  and then somewhat heeded, disappointment will ensue.

from wired.com



Some are hardware, software or both.
                                                              It doesn't matter to the user as long as it works.


GOOGLE SHOULD ASSIGN A FEW PEOPLE with their team TO WORK WITH INTERESTED SURGEONS.
This same strategy can be applied to a host of occupations.



1. Better battery life.

Ideally at least a  full work day 8 hours of active use.

2. Hands free commands

Reliable reproducible. Once   scrubbed, hands should not be  ever need to be at face level.

On and off are equally important for real time editing. One doesn't always need to document 30 minutes of positioning and preparing for each procedure.

3. Separate customized WORK menus

Customized menu i.e. surgical mode that disables social media,  blocks incoming data or allows filter limits features transiently . Akin to airplane mode but with better function tapered towards intra-operative use.

4. Adjustments to camera and image

Parallax makes surgeons gaze and GLASS field of view or interest differ.
GLASS was set up for distance not for 16-25 inches of working distance for most surgeons.
As a hand surgeon my working distance is 18 inches while sitting. Surgeons who stand will adjust table height and with some standing procedure the height is  changed intra-operativley.

XYZ axis without shifting GLASS frames. Frames shift or settle and a mm to the left or right and its out of view.

A rotation compensation or level ( even if it were not optical ) would help as well. Turning ones head one compensates in their own vision but recorded video does not.

Zoom. Just a digital enhancement.

5. Surgical loupes.

While Designs for Vision and several surgeons collaborated on GLASS with 2.5X loupes. Many surgeons where other brands or sizes.  If the surgical market is to be viable Google must work with several manufacturer. Surgical loupe manufactures have years of experience with images and glasses of high quality.

6. Reliable streaming. Whether for real time use in the record or for editing later, the ability to see how the image looks away from the surgeon is important for ensuring that an accurate image is being taken.

7. Secondary controls

a. Hand or forearm gestures.  These ideas are  not new

MYO a forearm brace can't be used when scrubbing, but on the arm i.e. the humerus level it can

Beartek gloves,  http://www.beartekgloves.com bulky but similar idea using gestures and finger sensors but must be under  surgical gloves and again sterility is an issue

b Air mouse. Several iterations exist

ONE PROMISNG TECHNOLOGY IS TYPIFIED BY SIXTH SENSE  If one could link this type of gesture driven technology to glass, or any device, that would be OR worthy and more!

c. foot pedals ( surgeons use these now for many function), A wireless foot pedal that controls glass might seem counterintuitive but may be widely used.  Again this would be an add on for a surgeon, dentist, proceduralist etc.




Suggestions are welcome. Id like to keep updating this blog post.


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