Bringing Surgical Robots Into the Mainsteam

The New York Times is running a story about how using robots to perform surgical operations has been transformed from a controversial dream to reality. Dr. Frederic Moll abandoned his residency for Silicon Valley and helped to revolutionize the industry. The lengthy article also discusses some of his innovations. We've discussed various robot-assisted medical procedures in the past. From the Times: "'I was struck by the size of the incision and injury created just to get inside the body,' Dr. Moll says. 'It felt antiquated.' He took the idea to his employer, Guidant, a medical device company. Guidant decided that robotic surgery was too futuristic and too risky, so Dr. Moll rounded up backers, resigned, and in 1995, founded Intuitive Surgical. The company prospered by proving that robots could deftly handle rigid surgical tools like scalpels and sewing needles through small incisions in a patient's skin."

Comments

I bet...

[neokushan]

They have detailed files on human anatomy.

Re:I bet...

[hotfireball]

These machines don't have any knowledge of anatomy. They are more like "remote control" surgeons than robot surgeons.

You are about to cut a surface with the sharp tool. Cancel or allow?..

Allow

Are you sure? Y/N

Y

*shows mouse cursor as a clock*, *HDD works heavily*

*guh!* Error -0xFF46A1: Unable to connect to socket 0x0650 at address 0xFFFF44DD. [ OK ] [ Retry ] [ Ignore ]

OK

*silence*

*still silence*

...

You are about to cut a surface with the sharp tool. Cancel or allow?..

Allow

Are you sure? Y/N

Y

*shows mouse cursor as a clock*, *HDD works heavily*

*guh!* Error -0xD4EE9: Windows Networking not found. [ Configure ] [ Cancel ]

Configure...

TCP/IP adaptor was not found. Please insert installation DVD to find one.

Driver found, install? (Cancel or Allow?)

Allow

Really?

Y

Really?

R

Really?

*click* OK

*Guh!* Error: The driver from this manufacturer can not be installed on this operating system edition. [ OK ]

*reboot*

Welcome to Windows Vista!

...

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You are about to cut a surface with the sharp tool. Cancel or allow?..

Allow

Are you sure? Y/N

Y

*shows mouse cursor as a clock*, *HDD works heavily*

...

...

...

*patient throws the chair and walks away*

Re:The laws and open sore software

[Anonymous Coward]

If I were having surgery done by a robot, I'd want one that was running open source software. You'd go into surgery a guy and then you'd wake up as a girl. This is not a bug but a feature, because after much debate the developers collectively agreed girls are neat.

Aw heck who am I kidding, we'd all love that.

Re:The laws and open sore software

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd especially like it when the OSS gives a seg fault, and the joints jerk into their neutral positions, inadvertantly slicing your abdominal aorta and IVC, causing you to die rapidly of severe internal hemmorage.

Re:The laws and open sore software

[piojo]

If I were having surgery done by a robot, I'd want one that was running open source software. You'd go into surgery a guy and then you'd wake up as a girl. This is not a bug but a feature, because after much debate the developers collectively agreed girls are neat. I can't help but think this is an oblique reference to Pidgin.

Oh no

[td04impostor]

Robot surgeons? This is a really bad idea...

A day at the hospital

[Rui del-Negro]

Welcome to MS Surgery 2008 (c) Microsoft 1983-1992

> run appendix

appendix is undefined.

> run "appendix"

appendix not found.

> run "Appendix"

- Appendix script started...
- Setup complete.
- Loading scalpel vector data.
- Reticulating splines.
- Blade initialized.
- Cutting...

[Message from AutoUpdater: an update for LifeSupport.sys is available and will now be installed.]

LifeSupport.sys has performed an illegal operation and was terminated.
Restart? Y/[N]

> y

Restart? Y/[N]

> Y

LifeSupport.sys failed to start due to error:
0000 - General error

Patient has terminated unexpectedly.