Tennis-ball-sized robot tackles surgical tasks on the micro-scale

Robots have come to play an important role in surgery, expanding the playbook of doctors and enabling them to carry out procedures with new levels of precision and control. A new tennis-ball-sized machine developed at Harvard University could open up e… Continue reading Tennis-ball-sized robot tackles surgical tasks on the micro-scale

Robot completes first round of “supermicrosurgeries” on human patients

A highly precise form of reconstructive surgery, known as supermicrosurgery, seeks to connect ultra-thin blood and lymph vessels as a way of restoring them to healthy function. This requires a high level of expertise on part of the surgeons, but they m… Continue reading Robot completes first round of “supermicrosurgeries” on human patients

Arduino Meets da Vinci in a Gesture-controlled Surgical Robot

Lots of us get to take home a little e-waste from work once in a while to feed our hacking habits. But some guys have all the luck and score the really good stuff, which is how these robotic surgical tools came to be gesture controlled.

The lucky and resourceful hacker in this case is one [Julien Schuermans], who managed to take home pieces of a multi-million dollar da Vinci Si surgical robot. Before anyone cries “larcency”, [Julien] appears to have come by the hardware legitimately – the wrist units of these robots are consumable parts costing about $2500 each, …read more

Continue reading Arduino Meets da Vinci in a Gesture-controlled Surgical Robot