Digital Signal Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
important to find the correct position of the acu-points, and the proper stimulus for the
highest healing effect.
That is, the acupuncture education requires both a textbook for memorizing, and
repeated practice/exercises to master the skill. With the help of advanced computer
technology, a better training effect can be expected using the textbook with the series
of processes of basic theory, case prehension, treatment policy, acu-points
combination and handling, which are systematically combined with a computer.
Acupuncture has techniques of not only holding and insertion, but also those of
stinging, trail, whirl, according to different symptoms. It is further required for good
healing to use different techniques such as the stinging angle, the speed, and the depth
upon different acu-points for each symptom. Therefore, it is especially important to
be trained by repeated practice.
2.2
Training with Force Feedback
The proposed system can be roughly divided into two parts. One is the software for
teaching and explanation of the sequence of basic theory, case prehension, treatment
policy, acu-points combination and handling. The software contains detailed
description on the names, position, depths of meridian and meridian point, and its
flow or moving, some are demonstrated by 3D expressions for a better understanding.
Another, and one of the most important things in the acupuncture training, is the
development of a training system with force feedback function with a precise
correspondence to the acu-point model. For such a system with force feedback
function, firstly, information of operation forces from well-experienced doctors are
measured and stored in the computer as a training index. Then, training functions are
input to the computer based on the human model and basic techniques of acupuncture.
A trainee is trained, using the system with force feedback, to master the basic
techniques such as the methods of holding, stinging, and so on. He gets the correct
feeling by repeated practice referring the standard from well-experienced doctors. The
system has the character of real-timely response, giving a true-false judgment during
the practice. The results are evaluated by the computer.
As stated above, while the former part can be found a lot in the e-learning or
database fields, the latter part is quite few because of being a kind of practice training
accompanied by technical difficulties. Our study has paid attention to the latter, and
experiment was done for a development of a computer training system for
acupuncture. In this paper, the construction of a training system using force feedback
device PHANTON was done with detailed description of the construction of
education environment and the functions of the system, and the problems and
perspectives were addressed.
3
The Acupuncture Training System
3.1
System Construction
A 3D human acu-points model was created on a computer. A training system was
constructed upon the 3D model. The schematic of the system composed of a computer
