Backgrounder

January 18, 2008

The Hospital for Sick Children

Centre for Computer-Assisted Intervention and Innovation (CCAII)

Creating robotic systems for pediatric surgery

Lead Researcher: Dr. Peter CW Kim
Total project cost: $10,185,000
Provincial funding: $3,395,000

Key Private Sector Partners:
MDA, Philips Medical Systems Canada

The future of surgery lies in the fields of computer-assisted, image guided techniques and minimally invasive surgery (MIS)—the potential of which are only now starting to be realized. At a new Centre for Computer-Assisted Intervention and Innovation (CCAII), researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children will focus on developing application specific surgical robotic systems for paediatric surgery, in particular an image-guided MIS-capable robotic arm called a KidsArm. Working with industry partners, they will commercialize this and other new surgical robotic products and services. The techniques and technologies developed will improve and save young lives—and be useful and transferable to adult applications.