Traditionally, robotic surgical apparatuses, like the well-known Da Vinci robot, are used under direct control from human surgeons. They have the benefits of filtering out tiny tremors common in human movement, and also offer control of surgical instruments with more range of motion than is possible with the human hands alone.
Early tests involved performing the surgery outside the body, with the robotic system able to achieve the procedure with the assistance of human doctors. Further upgrades enabled the surgery to be achieved via keyhole methods inside the pig’s body. The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot, or STAR, was able to complete two-thirds of the required stitches by itself, with the remaining completed with guidance from the human surgical team. It’s an impressive feat for a robot to achieve, and it suggests that future developments could allow robots to work alone in future decades.
Where it starts getting really useful is for areas with no or too few surgeons. Certainly, robotics are already in use under direct control, but it will be interesting to see how it starts to progress from basic operations to more complex ones over time.
See https://hackaday.com/2022/09/12/robotic-surgeons-are-showing-hints-of-one-day-outperforming-humans/
#technology #surgery #robots #medical