The Hindu : Front Page : Eye-controlled robot to make surgery safer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Eye-controlled robot to make surgery safer

James Randerson

London: British researchers are developing a medical robot that can work out the intentions of a surgeon performing surgery, making it easier and more precise.

They hope the new software will lead to less invasive operations, for example when conducting a cardiac bypass or tumour removal, allowing patients to recover quickly.

The improvements have been made to the most advanced robotic surgeon on the market, the Da Vinci. It allows surgeons to sit at a viewing console directing the movement of the mechanical arms inside the patient.

The research team is working on using the surgeon’s eye movements to direct the robot, getting the best out of both human and machine.

“We want to empower the robot and make it more autonomous,” said computer scientist Professor Guang Zhong Yang, of the Hamlyn centre for robotic surgery at Imperial College London.

He said robotic surgeons are currently completely under the control of the surgeon. The robot responds only to the surgeon’s hand movements. “There’s a large amount of information that is not being explored at all. That’s the human part.”

The team has added a device which tracks the surgeon’s eye movements. By working out precisely where each eye is looking, software can build up a three-dimensional map of the area of tissue the surgeon is looking at. This three-dimensional map is allows the software to stabilise the image of moving tissues such as a beating heart to make surgery easier. It means that what the surgeon sees in the viewer is stationary, while the instruments are in fact moving up and down in train with the organ.

The team is working on setting up virtual “no-go zones” such as a healthy blood vessel. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page