Supply and Installation of Haptic Simulators to the University of Birmingham

Digital Dentistry is a catch-all term to describe the use of digital technology within both the clinical and educational settings. This strategy focuses of the use of digital technologies to enhance education for students, rather than the provision of clinical dentistry for their patients.

The school of Dentistry wishes to procure 6 standalone Haptic Simulators that provide an immersive, virtual reality experience to operators including simulated handpieces, probing and local anaesthetic delivery. The simulators will need to link to scanners so the user can set up bespoke tasks, or they can be pre-loaded with a stock of simulation exercises.

Software development and updating of the bank of procedures must be included.

Haptics have not previously been used at the School of Dentistry. We are looking for a practical setup where the operator uses two "handpieces" which can be tailored to be a mirror and a handpiece, a mirror and a probe etc. appropriate to the clinical scenario.

The simulator must provide a good level of tactile feedback, particularly in relation to hard and soft tissues.

This project may be funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) or;

• European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) or;

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• Research Councils UK (RCUK), the strategic partnership of the UK's seven Research Councils.