ARTICLE

November 2003

Army Orders Medical Simulators

by Sandra I. Erwin

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.

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