A small shift in perspective with a big impact: What if surgeons no longer had to look back and forth between the surgical field and a monitor during an operation? This is precisely the question being explored by the Miro Innovation Lab of the DLR, which is developing innovative approaches to make minimally invasive procedures more intuitive and efficient with the help of Augmented Reality.

In April 2026, Julian Klodmann from the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics published a paper on this topic as a co-author in the International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, which he will present together with Manfred Weber at CARS 2026 (Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery).

The paper, entitled “Improving Hand-Eye-Coordination in Laparoscopy Using a Virtual Endoscope Monitor”, examines how surgeons can project the camera image from inside the body directly into their field of view during minimally invasive procedures instead of having to look at a distant monitor. With the help of AR glasses, the image can be positioned flexibly in space, including directly over the surgical field. The result: procedures were completed noticeably faster, and the mental workload of the operating surgeons decreased significantly.

CARS will take place from 2 to 5 July 2026 at the Toyoda Auditorium of Nagoya University in Japan and, with 40 editions, is one of the oldest and most renowned conferences in the field of computer-assisted surgery and radiology.

The full paper can be found here.