Here, we have the curved snakelike robot- ‘CardioArm’, devised by Cardiorobotics at Carnegie Mellon University. This technology enables a surgeon to perform a critical cardio surgery with a single cut. The robot’s coiled shape makes it the most flexible endoscope ever that follows the track led by robot’s head. A computer and a joystick operate it allowing 102 degrees of freedom to reach any knotty location inside the body. The smallest version measures 300mm and 12mm in length and diameter respectively. The CMU researchers expect to make it even smaller to enter the bloodstream through a vein. The chief researcher on the CardioArm project, Marco Zenati along with his team has carried out successful cardiovascular surgeries on nine pigs and two human dead bodies. Hopefully, live human trials are expected to begin later this year. Zenati intends that surgeon’s use CardioArms in harmony to lessen postoperative pain and recovery time.
Source: Technologyreview
Comments
This is the best thing that probably has come out of nanotechnology. There is no doubt that in future we will see more and more instances of tiny repairing units entering our body and performing tasks which were once thought to be difficult and took hours and hours together. This is really cool!