PNIPU: Anthropomorphic simulator for teaching dental students (robot simulator)

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• Stomatology
• Robots in medicine
• Robots (robotics)

2023: Anthropomorphic Simulator Announcement for Dental Students

Perm scientists have created an anthropomorphic simulator for teaching dental students, training professional medical personnel is a very important task. Not only the state of health of people, but also their life expectancy depends on the quality of training of doctors. In order to keep up with the times, students are increasingly introducing modern technologies into the educational process, for example, simulators, computer programs and other innovations. But most often, such developments require the presence of auxiliary equipment, as well as the constant participation of the teacher. In addition, not all devices can reproduce real conditions, which is very important in the training of doctors, including dentists. This factor can lead to errors with the real patient, which can ruin his health or facial aesthetics. Scientists of the Perm Polytechnic, together with colleagues from the Perm State Medical University named after Academician E.A. Wagner and Moscow State Medical University named after A.I. Evdokimova, as part of an intercollegiate consortium, have developed a robot simulator that will bring the training of dental students closer to the real conditions of a medical clinic, and will also allow assessing the quality of work using a neural network. The development was carried out as part of the Priority 2030 strategic academic leadership program. This was announced on May 17, 2023 by representatives of the Perm Polytechnic.

Anthropomorphic simulator

According to scientists, the creation of a simulator based on an anthropomorphic robot, that is, similar to a person, for conducting practical classes for dental students will automatically evaluate the skills of students without the participation of a teacher. In addition, the use of such an android as a basis will provide feedback from the "patient" in the form of movements and speech. Existing simulators used in dentistry - "phantoms," which are ordinary jaws - provide only a rough idea of a living person's dental treatment process, as the student receives feedback not from real factors such as a change in tooth structure in the well, but from special tests that conducted by a teacher. As a result, the student gets only a theoretical idea of ​ ​ how the workflow should go, and acquires real skills already while working with real people.

{{quote 'author
= says Andrey Kokoulin, Associate Professor of the Department of Automation and Telemechanics, PNIPU, Candidate of Technical Sciences' We have developed a dental anthropomorphic robot simulator that will allow us to objectively assess the student's skills using several tooth models, including "smart teeth" with a set of sensors. In addition to practical exercises, the simulator allows you to study the theoretical aspects of disciplines, is able to conduct surveys on topics of practical classes and lectures, as well as evaluate test tasks thanks to the interactive component. The basis of the device is an optical recognition system that checks the correctness of students.}}

Anthropomorphic simulator

To teach students, scientists created a robot simulator that simulates a patient, capable of conducting dialogue and performing movements. The robot is equipped with a replaceable jaw with replaceable teeth of several types, which is made of rubber and plastic materials, according to the hardness of the corresponding real tooth enamel, which gives the student the main one information about the structure of human teeth. The robot is prepared for four types of dental work: treatment, caries preparation for the crown, canal treatment and tooth removal. Depending on the type of practice, you can use standard monolithic teeth, or special ones with cavities with colored filler or sensors. This system allows students to see the structure of a real tooth when dissected. And a specially trained neural network assesses the depth, width, flatness, uniformity of the removed material and other features during drilling. According to scientists, this solution will eliminate the constant control of the teacher and the use of additional equipment, for example, X-rays, as well as optimize the objectivity of the assessment student's work.

Smart teeth consist of a conductive substrate, a conductive gel, a contact pad and are divided into two parts. All elements form an electrical circuit that responds to contact with the tool and sends a signal to the board. The lower part of smart teeth mimics their internal structure. Upper section represents part of tooth crown of preset shape. Together, they provide a complete simulation of working with a real tooth. Since innovation has feedback, there is no need for additional equipment that teaches a student to navigate using only their knowledge. There is also no need for a full-time faculty presence, allowing a large number of dental students to engage at the same time. In addition, we have implemented and trained a neural network capable of recognizing the success of the work performed. In the first step, the system determines and reflects the tooth image, and in the second step, it performs analysis using a model trained on hundreds of correct and erroneous cases. told Alexander Yuzhakov, Head of the Department of Automation and Telemechanics, PNIPU, Doctor of Technical Sciences

Also, according to scientists, the simulator is able to conduct surveys on topics of practical classes and lectures and evaluate test tasks. Thus, a robot simulator created by scientists of the Perm Polytechnic will be able to bring students closer to real ones.