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The next time you have to go under the knife, a robot may be doing the cutting. Engineers at Duke University are pushing the envelope of cutting edge surgery with a robot arm they've built that can perform simple procedures all by itself. The system guides itself using 3-d ultrasound imaging as its eyes, and has shown it can accurately guide two needle probes through tissue in a simulated biopsy and blood vessel graft. The bot's still in its experimental phase, but ultrasound specialist Stephen Smith and his research team believe the day is near when robots will autonomously conduct surgery without the need for human guidance.
Together with the recent development of an automatic anesthesia machine, the automated robot surgeon presents an eerie prospect for the operating room of tomorrow: it may be completely uninhabited by people except you, the patient. Perhaps a technician will look on from behind a two-way mirror; perhaps not.
There's a long way to go before that happens. For example, robots will have to learn to adapt to unforeseen complications during surgery. But what would you think if the OR at your local hospital looked more like an assembly line at General Motors and less like a place where people are healed? Would you trust a robot to cut you apart then sew you back up, good as new?
Source: PhysOrg
Image: Medgadget
Comments
Oh Hell NO!!!
Does this mean medical care could finally be affordable?
No, you say? The majority of care cost is premiums to milk insurance companies out of money?
Oh.
eerie? i'd much rather get a routine procedure like a blood vessel graft, biopsy, or apendectamy from a team of constantly alert robots than from a human surgical team. when humans act like robots it makes them complacent and inattentive, when robots act like robots they do the exact same job they've always done. leave the jobs that require split second judgement calls, like neurosurgery and neonatal surgery, to human beings. at least until we learn how to program instinct.
[www.welded-assemblies.com]
The designers of Prostatotron 5.0 did not understand why it proved to be the least successful robot doc ever.
Splendid! Now we just need robot lawyers, capable of suing for malpractice.
Adapting to unforseen circumstances? Easy! At least according to the ill-informed manufacturer.
WARNING: Brachial artery severed!
SOLUTION: Freeze patient.
WARNING: Spinal Cord Removed!
SOLUTION: Freeze patient.
WARNING: Left rotation servo damaged!
SOLUTION: Use right rotation servo until desired rotation is achieved.
WARNING: Patient Missing Lower Torso!
SOLUTION: Freeze Upper Torso.
WARNING: Patient Missing Upper Torso!
SOLUTION: Freeze Lower Torso.
ERROR: This application has performed an illegal operation and must be shut-down. Freezing Patient.
@Ghede: Also note I know nothing about robotics and used the word "Servo" because it makes me giggle.
Kind of gives new meaning to that old programming saw: "GIGO"
Someone reboot the doctor.
There is no way a robot could attain the ego necessary to be a surgeon.
Finally a doctor my robot wife will feel comfortable having do her pelvic exam.
@Garrison Dean, King Awesome: clearly you've never met SHODAN, insect
I agree...
Yep "the day is near when robots will autonomously conduct surgery"..
On a geologic scale that is right around the corner...
Look, they already have surgeon controlled robots.. they eliminate the hand tremor (which really isn't that big of a deal in most surgeries)...
There is a reason why training a surgeon take 10+ years after collage..
You have to be able to have the skills and deal with unexpected situations....
and computers/robots are terrible with unexpected complications...
This is nonsense...
@Nebbish:
That "doctor". I no think it is what you think it is.
The human body isn't magic. Anything that can be dissected and understood can be done by a robot of sufficiently advanced processing power. Robots already do 100% of the LASIK eye surgery and with greater care than the human hand is even capable of when rested and practiced.
@Brock: Aren't thousands going blind now because of botched LASIK surgery?
This is much cooler:
[www.accuray.com]
@SavannahJack: LASIK complications are observed in less than 1% of cases. thousands is probably an accurate number though given the hundreds of thousands or more undergoing the procedure.
If it's good enough for Darth Vader, it's good enough for me!
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