Robot removes Calgary woman's brain tumour

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Robot removes Calgary woman's brain tumour

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=9d9e3053-9214-40d6-805f-c0b08fd29ba7

Though I would call it a Waldo as defined by Robert A Heinlein rather than a robot.

 

[INRM]

The robot is partially guided by a human however...

 

[The Atheist]

Marvellous stuff. Thanks for that.

The Fantastic Voyage may not be that far away after all, albeit with a robot crew rather than Raquel Welch's boobs.

 

[shadron]

The robot is partially guided by a human however...

That is what Gord meant by waldo. A waldo is one or two teleoperated robot hands (most usually) that takes its orders from the identical movements of the operator's hands. As a counter-example, the Canadarms on the shuttle and the ISS aren't true waldos, because they take orders from joystick controls and computer-controlled, automated simple functions. Waldos are often used in radioactive environments, to isolate the operator from the radio-hazard.

NeuroArm has the distinct advantage of being able to move in smaller increments than a surgeon's hand, Sutherland said.

Typically, the human hand can steady itself and move in increments of one or two millimetres. NeuroArm can move in increments of 50 microns. A micron is one millionth of a metre.


As well, NeuroArm can operate in the brain in a way that is less invasive and more delicate than a surgeon's hands.

I can't imagine that they would let it compute it's own movements, so I think they are scaling the doctor's movements down. An inch of hand movement by the doctor could mean a millimeter of movement of the manipulator, perhaps. It is certainly not autonomous, not yet.

The Fantastic Voyage may not be that far away after all, albeit with a robot crew rather than Raquel Welch's boobs.

You want 'em close, but not that close, eh?

 

[fuelair]

The Da Vinci waldo device was used to remove my prostate (two years, five months cancer free). Side note - research (sorry, do not have it at hand) says that surgeons who play video games are best at this surgery. If you are having anything with the robot/waldo ask your surgeon about his videogame skills. Can't hurt, might well help!!!