Robotics took a step forward at Duke University Durham NC, USA, recently. Scientists programmed a robot to guide a needle to a sliver of steel shrapnel immersed in a water bath with no human intervention.
This was just a proving exercise.
In just a few years, extensions of the robotic surgery technique will be able to start reducing the cost and time and increasing the accuracy of many common surgical operations.
For example, this cutting edge technique will be able to be used to carry out some biopsies.
A biopsy might take a week, or even many weeks, to complete because of the number of separate operations necessary and people involved. A highly programmed robot would be able to short-circuit the process, missing out various procedures which would become unnecessary. For example, the taking and interpreting of some x-rays would be unnecessary.
Steve Smith, a researcher working on the study, said that the cost of a $1000 biopsy surgery might reduce to just $10. Obviously, many more such operations could be carried out at this lower cost, benefiting us all.
