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Robots are now being put to work in just about every field imaginable. Aside from differences in shape and size depending on the job, robots are generally capable of meeting whatever a given task actually requires. In work that’s difficult or dangerous for humans, robots have become the go-to solution. Medicine and healthcare, though, are areas where robots still aren’t used all that much. But last week, a hospital in the UK trialed using robots in an eye surgery — the first time robots have been used for this kind of procedure. According to the results, the robots actually performed with more precision than even experienced doctors. Here’s the full story on this surgery.
Robots are now being applied across virtually every field. Recently, a UK hospital introduced robots that outperform doctors in eye surgery. The hospital ran a trial pitting doctors against robots in eye surgery, where both a team of surgeons and a team of robots removed a membrane from the retina of six patients each.
“This is the first time robots have been used in eye surgery. The robot can operate the same instruments used in retinal surgery,” said Marco Bellini, a researcher at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences’ Medical Sciences division.
The surgical robot was built by Dutch engineering company Preceyes. Its main advantage is being able to precisely handle surgical procedures that are difficult for human doctors. The robot is controlled by the surgeon via a display and joystick. This kind of controlled surgery proved 10 times more precise than surgery performed by doctors. In the trial pitting robots against doctors, the robot team caused significantly less damage to the retina.
Based on this trial, Preceyes is now working to further improve the robots’ capabilities, according to Bellini.