Voice and Gesture Recognition in Operating Theatres. Fact or Fiction?

14th March 2012 – DSCallards Ltd and LEAD Technologies help Kingston University to enter the Imagine Cup 2012, a worldwide Microsoft competition, with MediKinect, a pioneering medical voice and gesture recognition software tool for operating theatres. MediKinect is designed to save a surgeon’s time during an operation and prevent the spread of infection.

The Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 is the world’s premier student technology competition. Every year, student competitors present creative technology solutions that address real-world challenges, and many of those solutions are in use today. Its mission states: “Create and submit a project in one of the Competitions or Challenges that is inspired by the Imagine Cup 2012 theme: Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”

Kingston Kinetica is a team of four doctoral research students: Dilaksha Attanayake, Victoria Bloom, Reyhaneh Esmaielbeiki and Filipa Ferreira mentored by Dr.Dimitrios Makris from Kingston University in the UK. The team is developing MediKinect, a software tool that will use the Microsoft Kinect device to provide sterile browsing of medical images.

Victoria Bloom, Doctoral Researcher, Kingston University, commented, “The film "Minority Report" popularised a new style of user interface where the user can manipulate a virtual desktop with hand gestures. Hand gestures are an attractive alternative to keyboards and mice, as they remove the need for physical contact with hardware. The Kinect has turned science fiction into reality by allowing users to interact with computers by using hand gestures.”

US-based LEAD Technologies is working with Kingston University by generously supplying special licenses for the team to use their Medical Imaging SDK in the competition saving over $20,000 in licence fees. This will enable Kingston University to display and manipulate patient's DICOM medical images in 2D and 3D.

“LEAD is very pleased to assist Kingston University in this most worthy endeavor.” says Jordan Shields, Vice President of LEAD Technologies, Inc. “Innovation in the field of health sciences is one of LEAD’s top priorities and we enjoy the opportunity to work alongside these exceptional students.”

Ben Hedger, Senior Sales Consultant, DSCallards, commented, “As the main representative of LEADTOOLS in the UK, we are delighted with the recognition that Kingston University would like to include the LEADTOOLS Medical Imaging SDK in their plans. It’s a pleasure to be involved in bringing such a pioneering idea to life. The MediKinect offers huge potential benefits to the medical profession and we look forward to working with them”.

Victoria concluded, “The idea has already won first prize in the Bright Ideas competition in the UK. The next step is to develop a fully functional prototype but this is only possible with the help of DSCallards and LEADTOOLS. Microsoft is also supporting us by providing free software development tools through DreamSpark and competitions like the Imagine Cup. If our team progresses to the next round Microsoft will also provide us with the new Kinect for Windows and a Kinect toolkit for accelerated development.”

The Kingston University team plan to develop the prototype over the next two months and incorporate user feedback from surgeons. Their hope is that the prototype will succeed in the competition and move one step closer to their dream of gesture based medical viewers in operating theatres around the world.

NOTES TO EDITOR

About Imagine Cup 2012

The world’s toughest problems are addressed one solution at a time. By competing in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 student technology competition, thousands of students from around the world step up to the challenge of global change. Imagine Cup 2012 teams can choose from three competitions; Software Design, Game Design: Xbox/Windows, and Game Design: Phone. Visit www.imaginecup.com.

About Kingston University

Kingston University is the largest provider of higher education in south-west London. They are renowned for teaching excellence across their faculties and have established themselves as a growing force in research. Kingston University’s academics and students/graduates have a proud history of engagement with the wider community. They have supported and delivered cost-effective services to a range of commercial, public and voluntary organisations. Visit www.kingston.ac.uk.

About DSCallards

Established in 1993, with quality at the heart of its company philosophy, DSCallards brings together and harnesses the power of some the world’s leading technologies to deliver customer Business Intelligence and Development projects. Customers include organisations such as SAP, BT, Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd, Virgin Media and Alcatel Lucent. For more information, visit www.dscallards.com.

About LEAD Technologies

LEAD Technologies, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 1990 by Moe Daher and Rich Little. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, LEAD was established to commercialize Mr. Daher's inventions in the field of digital imaging and compression technology. Over the course of LEAD's more than 20 year life span, LEAD has become the established global leader in the digital imaging development tool sector, with a leading market position in all major countries throughout the world. LEAD is the developer and publisher of LEADTOOLS, the award winning development toolkit. www.leadtools.com.

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