Structuring Knowledge from Surgical Observations for Design Reuse
Year: 2009
Editor: Chakrabarti, A.
Author: Grech, K Alexia; Borg,C.Jonathan; Muscat,Rita Maria; Ellul,Carmel
Section: Design - Knowledge - and Product Lifecycle - Management
Page(s): 271-277
Abstract
Due to the many bene ts that it offers patients, Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is becoming even more and more popular in a wide range of surgical elds. This paper describes a set of surgical observations that were carried out in order to investigate the problem of swapping of single functional tools that takes place in a particular MIS procedure. Results showed the need for multifunctional end-effectors having modular and interchangeable interfaces. This paper contributes to generating a set of design guidelines from the knowledge captured from a number of medical professionals, from observations made inside the operating theatre and from a review of existing patents. The ultimate aim of capturing and structuring the knowledge is to reuse it in medical device companies involved in design and manufacturing, by incorporating it in a knowledge intensive prototype tool to proactively guide designers in the early stages of design
Keywords: DFX, Biomedical Device Design, Knowledge Capturing, Life-Cycle Consequences, Design Synthesis Decision Making