Posted on 05/05/2016 5:39:33 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Getting stitched up by Dr. Robot may one day be reality: Scientists have created a robotic system that did just that in living animals without a real doctor pulling the strings.
Much like engineers are designing self-driving cars, Wednesday’s research is part of a move toward autonomous surgical robots, removing the surgeon’s hands from certain tasks that a machine might perform all by itself.
No, doctors wouldn’t leave the bedside — they’re supposed to supervise, plus they’d handle the rest of the surgery. Nor is the device ready for operating rooms.
But in small tests using pigs, the robotic arm performed at least as well, and in some cases a bit better, as some competing surgeons in stitching together intestinal tissue, researchers reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
And no, this looks more comparable to replacing those $15/hour fast-food jobs with bots than so-called autonomous cars. Why hire human surgeons if the bots could do it “a bit better”, eh? The State would not disagree.
Putting my engineer hat on, what if this technology could be put to use in combat hospitals? Use the surgeons to do the intricate work, then have the machines do the final closing of the skin, allowing the surgeons to move more quickly to the next critical patient?
Lookout minimum wagers...if a robot can perform surgery, it can certainly serve a hamburgers!
We lost the patient. Computer froze. Call IT, STAT!!!!
They could then send bots to do the fighting too. Ought to make hamburger out of human armies, right?
Gives a whole new meaning to the Blue Screen of Death if the bot locks up.
I think that’s the trend (at least for USA). Bought another 100 shares of Cyberdyne Systems yesterday. ;-)
What is it about stitching that doctors don’t like? They usually do staples to close,which looks lazy to me.
Not very applicable or practical since most battlefield surgical wounds are not closed at the first operation due to contamination, mitigation of the effects of swelling of underlying tissues, and need for re-operation in the near term. Also, of those few wounds that are closed, skin closure is typically accomplished with skin staples, a task that takes literally seconds and can be accomplished by the surgical tech.
Thanks for the info! I was thinking in terms of complexity vs. speed as a benefit. The skin staple approach does that since it’s quick and doesn’t require a physician. Didn’t know about the need to re-open, which is another good reason why the idea isn’t too practical.
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