Engineering Student Reconstructs $20k Surgical Simulator for Under $100

Minimally invasive surgery requires advanced hand-eye coordination and depth perception. The commercial training systems required to master these techniques, though, are often cost prohibitive.

Wentworth Institute of Technology Biomedical Engineering student Sasha Feron set out to change that. She designed and developed a low-cost training simulator that allows users to practice essential surgical skills in a highly controlled, accessible environment.

"Each of these models is very, very expensive, costing upwards of $20,000," said the Class of 2028 student. "I created a low-cost one for less than $100 at home, and using tools that you can find laying around."

Known professionally as laparoscopy, minimally invasive surgery is a technique that allows surgeons to operate in the abdomen and pelvis (with the aid of a tiny camera) without making large incisions.

By reverse-engineering expensive laparoscopic models, Feron bypassed the need for high-grade PVC and specialized, costly lighting. She broke the system down into functional, affordable sections that could be recreated with everyday materials.

The resulting platform includes interchangeable task modules that simulate real surgical challenges such as object transfer, precision cutting, and suturing. To simulate the physical resistance of the human body, Feron created a custom silicone pad.

"It moves like skin. It's very malleable, very soft," Feron said. "It gives you the pressure that you would get in the real-life body."

Because laparoscopic surgery utilizes small incisions and long instruments, surgeons must operate while looking at a two-dimensional screen rather than at their own hands. Feron's device mimics this restricted visual field. Inside the box, users practice precise movements, like transferring small beads and stretching rubber bands across pegs without breaking them. A point-based scoring system tracks the user's progress, and Feron notes that initial user testing demonstrated measurable improvements in accuracy and coordination over repeated trials.

Feron built the simulator on campus over the summer, taking advantage of specialized equipment, including CNC plotting machines.

"Because we have all these opportunities and these resources and Accelerate, it made it a lot easier for me to do it," she said.

Feron is already putting her Wentworth-acquired skills to work this semester, having recently started a role as a BMET co-op at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Looking ahead, she plans to refine her design further. "There's much more that we could do," she said, "trying to make it cheaper, finding better materials for it to be reproduced in a faster, more efficient way."