Surgical Microbot Developed

An anonymous reader writes to mention a Wired article about the first surgical nanobot developed for practical use. No wider that two human hairs, the machine is intended to swim through arteries and the digestive tract, and can perform surgical procedures in spaces no bigger than 250 microns. The article also addresses safety concerns; the bot will swim upstream from blood flow, so if something goes wrong it can be retrieved on its way back. Likewise, for the most delicate procedures it can be fitted with a tether, to ensure it doesn't get lost. From the article: "The tiny robot, small enough to pass through the heart and other organs, will be inserted using a syringe. Guided by remote control, it will swim to a site within the body to perform a series of tasks, then return to the point of entry where it can be extracted, again by syringe. For example, the microrobot might deliver a payload of expandable glue to the site of a damaged cranial artery -- a procedure typically fraught with risk because posterior human brain arteries lay behind a complicated set of bends at the base of the skull beyond the reach of all but the most flexible catheters."

Comments

some perl

[Trailer Trash]

use Jokes::Std::Beowulf;
use Jokes::Std::Overlords::Robotic;

That's optimism!

[Lazerf4rt]

The article:

An international team of scientists is developing what they say will be the world's first microrobot... While others have tried and failed to create microrobots for arterial travel, Friend believes his team will succeed...

The Slashdot headline:

Surgical Microbot Developed.

Re:That's optimism!

[niconorsk]

You mean Slashdot articles are sometimes inaccurate and sensationalist. Quickly, inject me with some nanobots to calm my central nervous system before I go into paralyzing shock.

The new bit

[Silver Sloth]

Once you separate the wheat from the chaff in TFA the new tech is

The microrobot's design is based on the E. coli bacterium, complete with flagella that will propel it through the body. Scientists will make the flagella out of human hair in the preliminary research stages, and eventually they want to try using Kevlar.

The theory behind the microrobot's propulsion system is modeled after turbine and helicopter blades, Friend said.

"In and of itself, the idea is not especially new, but it has always fallen down around the propulsion system," he said. So, at the end of the day, what we have is another step towards a working microbot, not the finished product.

Re:great. . .

[Daemonstar]

Ya, possibly, but there's no more risk than having your body cut open and worked on by people. Surgery is surgery. :)