The movie magic that allowed Gollum to lurch across the screen in the Lord of the Rings films or capture the great ape’s naturalistic movements in the remake of King Kong is now being used in operating room research and training in the new Maryland Simulation Training and Innovation Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

By recording how expert surgeons move during simulated surgeries, researchers hope to design an operating room that reduces the physical ill-effects on the surgeon like shoulder and neck pain and carpel tunnel syndrome.