The U.S. Army ordered 44 medical simulators from San Jose, Calif., touch-technology
maker Immersion Corp.
The devices, costing an average of $15,000, help train medics to draw blood
and insert intravenous lines. The contract was awarded in August and deliveries
were due in September. Immersion’s 42-person office in Gaithersburg, Md.,
was able to fulfill the order within three weeks, said a company statement.
Immersion makes the CathSim vascular access simulator. CathSim combines software,
a catheter interface device and a personal computer to create training scenarios
that exhibit realistic human tissue interaction such as bleeding and resistance.
The system uses a patented TouchSense(r) technology, which enables a medical
professional to feel subtle nuances of a vessel when performing a simulated
medical procedure. A new module will be designed to integrate guide wire, catheter, dilator, and needle procedures on a haptic feedback device attached to a laptop
computer.
Immersion received a Small Business Innovation Research grant to work on a
new module for this simulator.