Two groups partecipate to the projects: the ALTAIR Robotics Laboratory and the Department of Surgery (Chirurgia B).

The team at the Robotics Laboratory ALTAIR addresses autonomous and tele- operated systems for service robotics and computer assisted surgery. In the area of robot assisted surgery, research addresses the development of automatic methods for medical image segmentation, and the development of model of deformable objects. Task and path planning are studied to address the development of semi-autonomous surgical procedure. New haptic human-robot interfaces are developed and testing with high performance hardware and human perception experiments. Finally, dedicated software/hardware architectures, optimal control, and sensor processing and fusion contribute to the development of high performance control methods for surgical robots.

The Deparment of Surgery Chirurgia B, lead by Prof. Pederzoli, is located within the Policlinico G.B. Rossi, one of the teaching hospitals of the University of Verona. It is a high volume centre for pancreatic surgery, and it represents the leading centre in Italy. In 2008 a total of 269 pancreatic resections were carried out. There are many ongoing projects regarding different aspects of pancreatic diseases. Since 1999 the Department has been actively involved in the project of laparoscopy and pancreatic surgery, leading to one of the widest experiences in the world

role in the project: UNIVR is responsible for the coordination of the project, pre- and intra-operative planning and execution research related to the simulated and real surgical procedures.

Fondazione San Raffaele is a private non-profit foundation that runs one of the most important Italian hospitals (San Raffaele Hospital in Milan) and several outpatient facilities in Milan, as wel as in Italy and abroad. HSR serves also as a University in the fields of Medicine, Psychology, Philosophy and Communication; as a very active Scientific Institute in the aerea of basic research in biotechnology (genetics) and in clinical research; and as a very active Science Park to enable technology transfer and tight co-operation with pharmaceutical, medical and technological industries.

The Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, through the activity of the CeSREM (“Centro Studi San Raffaele Rischi Errori in Medicina”, transl. “San Raffaele Center for Clinical Error Risk Studies”), has joined with other Italian hospitals, in collaboration with the Tribunal of Patient Rights, to the experimentation of the “Safety Card in the medical practice and assistance”. Moreover it takes part, together with 9 other regional hospitals in the project “Quality and Health in Lombardia Region, development projects of a system of accreditation for the Excellence in the Healthcare structure of the Lombardia Region”, in collaboration with the Joint Commission International – JCI.
Since 1997, HSR added among its significant assets a specific Unit oriented to Information Technology applications in health domain. This Unit, called e-Services for Life and Health is specialized in the delivery of services internally to the hospital infrastructure (person identification systems, process re-engineering) as well as oriented to innovative domains and disciplines (interactive television, educational games). The unit has been active in the 5th FP, being the project coordinator of DRIVE (DRug in Virtual Enterprise) IST-12040, and in the 6th FP, being the project coordinator of PIPS (Personalized Information Platform for life and health Services), as well as participating to the projects PRIME (IP) and ANGEL (STREP). In FP7 the unit is participating to the project MASTER (IP).

role in the project: HSR is together with the hospital in UNIVR responsible for the patient safety definitions, providing medical competence of all kind thoughout the project. It si also responsible for validation of the developed methods on surgical phantoms and animals and involved in surgeon training.

The contribution to this project is given through the Center for Biorobotics, which is a recently established research center in TUT Faculty of IT. The mission of TUT Center for Biorobotics is to facilitate competitive research and development in interdisciplinary areas, between biological and technical systems. The main research directions are electroactive polymer artificial muscles research, artificial muscles modelling and control, biomimetic underwater robotics, mechanics of undulating fins, modelling of fish and their hydrodynamic properties with CFD, modelling of fish locomotion, , human body modelling, as well as safety of robot learning. The infrastructure of the Center of Biorobotics is suitable for theoretical as well as experimental work in the aforementioned areas, including digital electronics laboratory, mechanical workshop, polygons for robot testing, various types of robotic platforms, CAD systems for control software development, simulation software, etc. Center of Biorobotics is involved in several international and national research projects. The ETF-U.S.CRDF joint project with Michigan State University is dedicated to artificial polymer muscles modelling and control. FP7 ICT STREP project FILOSE is devoted to bioinspired underwater locomotion and sensing.

role in the project: the main role of TUT is the project is through soft tissue modelling, intervention and deformation registration and organ calibration for the safety of the models.

DLR, German branch of the Space Agency, serves scientific, economic and social ends. The Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics did Europe's first step into space robotics (ROTEX 1993) and since then developed generations of awarded high end robots such as the DLR lightweight arm and hand. The institute is said to be a worldwide leading institution in applied robotics research with focus on space robotics and technology transfer into industrial and service robotics, surgery and prosthetics.

The technology transfer into surgery focuses on the field of surgical robotics. Robotic systems can benefit surgical treatment by increasing precision, overcoming barriers, enabling new instrument designs and enhancing the ergonomics. Key result of the DLR medical group is the development from scratch of the telesurgery scenario MIROSURGE. It includes an input (or master) console as well as a teleoperator with three surgical robots (MIRO). Furthermore, components for planning and registration were developed. The system versatility enables various additional applications such as biopsies or laser osteotomies.

role in the project: DLR will lead the development of a robotic system simulator for MIRS applications. Several well known tools for system dynamics modelling (SIMPACK, Modelica, Dymola) emerged from DLR. Furthermore, DLR will analyse the user interface requirements for MIRS applications and provide guidelines for an appropriate design.

The scientific team of the Institute of Process Control and Robotics (IPR), lead by Prof. H. Wörn Brief, performs research in the fields of industrial automation and computer aided therapy both focusing on robotics. The coming operating theatre and virtual robot assisted surgery are main issues of our computer aided surgery research programme. This comprises sensor based surgical robots, flexible endoscopes, and visualisation systems for the coming surgical workplace. Another important reseach topic is humanoid robotics and IPR gained experience in human-machine collaboration by doing scientif work in the Collaborative Research Center 588 funded by DFG. In a nutshell, the integration of sensors into robotic systems runs like a thread trough all robot projects at IPR.

role in the project: he main tasks of IPR will focus on the sensing system, this means the integration and interpretation of sensor data into surgical context. On one hand the surgical intervention will be supported by using different optimal applicable sensing modalities to assure safe operations on patient. On the other hand all actions in the operating room will be monitored in order to prevent hazardous situations for the patient. In both cases the surgical work flow will be the reference.

The School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (A.S.PE.T.E.) was founded in Athens in 2002 as a self-administered public legal entity. The School’s mission is to provide technological education and training at higher education level. t also includes the concurrent provision of pedagogical training, the promotion of applied research in educational technology and pedagogy, and the provision of training, further training or specialization. Situated in Athens and operating Branches throughout the country, ASPETE aims at ensuring and promoting excellence in all of the programmes offered by its academic departments. These include undergraduate study-programmes in five major disciplines, joint postgraduate programmes (MA) in cooperation with Higher Education Institutions in Greece or abroad, and programmes of pedagogical training, further training or specialization. To this end, ASPETE is committed to policies and standards that define best practices and encourage transnational cooperation. The School includes 7 Departments: Electrical Engineering Educators, Electronic Engineering Educators, Mechanical Engineering Educators, Civil and Structural Engineering Educators, Civil and Construction Engineering Educators, Department of Education, General Department.

Role in the project: ASPETE will contribute to the development of evidence-based training curricula in robotic surgery which will integrate the main principles of constructionism and problem-based learning.

In October 2004 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the World Alliance for Patient Safety (WAPS) in response to a World Health Assembly Resolution (2002) urging WHO and Member States to pay the closest possible attention to the problem of patient safety. The Alliance raises awareness and political commitment to improve the safety of healthcare and facilitates the development of patient safety policy and practice in all WHO Member States. Each year, the Alliance delivers a number of programmes covering systemic and technical aspects to improve patient safety around the world. These include both a worldwide safe surgery initiative with the Safe Surgery Saves Lives campaign launched in Europe in January, 2009 and a Technology programme, which has been one of the original work streams of WAPS and part of its Forward Programme since 2006. The goal of the Safe Surgery Saves Lives Challenge is to improve the safety of surgical care around the world by ensuring adherence to proven standards of care in all WHO member states. The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist has improved compliance with standards and decreased complications from surgery in eight pilot hospitals where it was evaluated. The checklist is now being disseminated around the world in a variety of resource settings. Based on the experience of the Surgical Safety Checklist and current efforts in the Technology Programme the World Alliance for Patient Safety is an ideal collaborator for this project. Technology presents a number of untapped opportunities for patient safety, as well as representing a potential hazard, and is a common thread shared across many areas of the World Alliance's work on patient safety. The WAPS Technology Programme currently has four work streams being developed in this area: information technology for patient safety, making technology safer, introducing new technology safely, training and simulation technology. All four of these work streams relate directly to this EU proposal on safety in robotic surgery. The WAPS Technology Programme also has one of the world's experts on Robotic Surgery, Lord Ara Darzi, of Imperial College, London and current Health Minister for the United Kingdom as a key member of their Technology Programme team.

role in the project: WAPS' role in the project is manifold: firstly it will act in a strategic way to link the technical development with the World Health Organization's work on safety checklists. This work will be based on the global success of the Safe Surgery Saves Lives checklist and could provide more detailed checklists to guide the design of the workplan guiding the interaction of humans and robots in the operating room. Secondly, WAPS will guide the introduction and will act in a strategic role for the project advise on the project direction and integration of the results of this study into wider European initiatives. As the only global organization in health care safety, WAPS is particularly well positioned to aid the SAFROS coalition in integrating the innovations developed as part of other work packages into the global community of health care quality and safety practitioners and organizations. Finally, WAPS is one of a handful of organizations who have experience evaluating safety issues across countries and the organization will bring its extensive experience in measurement and evaluation of programme implementation to support the SAFROS team. WAPS will help generalize the findings of this study to a broader European audience.

The School of Engineering, Institute of Microengineering IMT, Lab of Robotic Systems (LSRO EPFL - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) is among the top-ranked non-Anglo-Saxon universities. It has important activities in all fields of robotics, covering biomedical and industrial applications as well as humanoid and life inspired robotics with a total of about eight labs and over 100 scientific staff active in those fields. It is participating several highly competitive projects funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program and by NCCR (National Center of Competence in Research) of the Swiss National Foundation for Science (SNSF). The EPFL Robotics Lab LSRO has pioneered biomedical robotics with the MINERVA project for neurosurgery in the 1990ies. Recent activities have concentrated on surgery simulation for various mini-invasive interventions, especially the hardware part (force feedback) of such devices and on MRI compatible devices. Several spin-off companies in the biomedical field have resulted from such activities: xitact SA in Morges, Attracsys, Force Dimension etc. EPFL also boosts a newly established and highly visible School of Life Science, thus providing an ideal environment for biomedical research projects, together with the large activity in micro technologies (about 300 scientific staff) of the Engineering School.

role in the project: EPFL will lead the development of the surgeon workstation in order to assess not only surgeon’s skills/accuracy and specific action/perception sequences and limits, but also haptic teleoperator safety.

Holografika Ltd. is a private company (SME), founded in 1989 by Tibor Balogh. The company is owned by Tibor Balogh (95%) and by Videoton Holding Co. 5% (Videoton Holding Co. is the largest Hungarian electronics manufacturer). As an R&D company, Holografika has been focusing on real- time holography and other photonic technologies from the early 90s. Holografika, empowered by its strong connection to university research groups, follows a unique research path in 3D display technology, and was the first in realising a “real 3D” Light-field display system. Holografika research team has been actively involved in the continuous development of the theory and practice of 3D displays. Along with the technologies used in the successive 3D display generations the company has started to develop related 3D technologies, like 3D acquisition, 3D compression and possible 3D formats. In 1996, Holografika and Sony Corporation signed an agreement for an R&D development of laser based display technologies. As a result of the development a laser based monitor prototype and a patent describing this technology, jointly owned by Holografika and Sony was created. Holografika also had technological cooperation with other companies, including large multinationals e.g. GE Medical Systems In 2005 Holografika Ltd. was a recipient of Red Herring 100 Europe award, a selection of the 100 private companies in Europe and Israel that play a leading role in innovation and technology. In 2006 The World Economic Forum has announced Holografika as a Technology Pioneer. The company has also been nominated to the World Technology Award 2006 and The European 2007 ICT Prize. In 2008, Holografika won the „Best Exhibit” Silver Prize at ICT Lyon Exhibition.

role in the project: HOL will actively take part in the project by firstly researching on 3D display requirements for robotic surgery purposes (HOL will present detailed analysis of human 3D perception in relation to safety in robotic surgery). Secondly, HOL will be providing 3D display hardware to make previously set goals of safety assessment possible and presentable with a 3D display which will be interfaced to surgical planning and robotic simulator training environment.

Founded in 2001 with the support and expertise of Switzerland's leading R&D facilities, Force Dimension has more than a decade of first-hand haptic technology expertise. Close partnerships with leaders in R&D, high-tech manufacturing and marketing enable the company to stay constantly at the cutting edge of haptic design.
Force Dimension has earned international recognition for designing and manufacturing high precision haptic interfaces operating industrial and medical robotic systems. As an example, Force Dimension provides the haptic input devices to Hansen Medical's Sensei Robotic Catheter System, a product commercialized in the USA and EU for electrophysiological beating heart procedures with force feedback. Our flagship products, the delta and omega family of haptic devices, provide best-in-class solutions that enable human operators to instinctively and safely operate critical systems.
As an engineering and service support company geared to the needs of the most demanding users, Force Dimension licenses and develops customized robotic and VR solutions for a wide range of application areas which include the medical, pharmaceutical, aerospace and entertainment industries.

role in the project: Force Dimension will work essentially for the development of the surgical interface lead by EPFL. Its contribution will be bringing its experience in medical haptics to provide support  related to the usage of the omega input device (as integrated in the DLR MIROSURG setup). More specifically, Force Dimension will develop and implement a software toolkit to drive the omega haptic device as a robotic device and to apply spatial constraints into the user's hands. Further, direct and inverse force models will be established for the electromechanical omega input device, so that external forces can be estimated through the indirect knowledge of motor torque values, even without integration of an external force sensor, thus allowing to explore architectures with increased reliability. Different model complexities will be explored, to evaluate the trade-off between computational burden (i.e. real-time compatibility) and accuracy (i.e. safety) for a given task. These models will ensure to properly identify and separate device related and human related factors.