Toyoda Gosei and EBM Corporation, a university-launched venture company that develops training simulators, have recently launched the “SupeR BEAT” surgical training simulator – the device can reproduce the rhythmic pumping of the heart with extreme accuracy using Toyoda Gosei’s e-Rubber material.
The simulator is composed of a fine rubber system that expands and contracts rapidly in response to the on/off electric currents, while a special program installed can mimic more than a dozen complex heartbeat patterns.
Demand for such safe surgical training simulators is fast growing in Japan and abroad as training using simulators has become compulsory in specialties such as cardiovascular surgery, which employs a high level of skill. As such, the Japanese firms will continue their collaborative efforts in medical engineering and further develop technique training which uses e-Rubber sensors that can detect minute pressure to forceps such as that applied in surgery.