CIAN's Planning and Navigation research activities are dedicated to the development of novel technologies in order to safely plan and control the surgical interventions of an endoscopic robot-assisted laserosteostome (MIRACLE). The planning system of the group is based on an in-house developed software called SpectoVR, which is a renderer for three-dimensional medical data such as Computed Tomography (CT) data sets and enables visualizing images in three dimensions using virtual reality.  Due to the three-dimensional depth perception, the surgery planning with such a system is much more precise and less time consuming compared to conventional intervention planning.  Using augmented reality techniques, the software will also be used during surgery to visualize the progress of the intervention in real time. Furthermore, since  accurate real-time navigation is essential for the realization of precise osteostomies using a robotic system, CIAN also focuses on the determination of the physical position of the robotic endoscope inside the body of the patient. Due to the flexibility of the endoscope and the missing line of sight, state-of-the-art trackers are not suitable and CIAN therefore develops innovative navigation concepts to monitor the position of the laser tip and the entire shape of the endoscope during surgery.