US Patent 9607528 Combined soft tissue and bone surgical simulator

A surgery simulator includes a physical surrogate surgical interface that represents an interface between a user and a simulated patient in a simulated surgical scenario that involves manipulation of both simulated hard and soft tissue. Sensor(s) sense the user's manipulation of the surrogate surgical interface. A surgical simulation generator generates a real time 3D surgical simulation of the surgical scenario based on the manipulation sensed by the sensor(s). The real time 3D surgical simulation comprises real time simulation state data. The surgical simulation generator renders the real time simulation state data into a real time computer graphics generated video representation of the surgical simulation and provides the real time video representation to a display for real time viewing by the user. The surgical simulation generator simulates effects of the manipulation on both simulated hard tissue and simulated soft tissue of the simulated patient.