If you watched the video you saw a little news report about the hospital in my town. We have a new robot in our community! Of course Greg was very excited about it, so we stopped by SEL in the morning and got to try it out.
You put your hands in these little controls that have two loops. Two fingers slip into the two loops--like a thumb and forefinger, and then you can move the robot arm by moving your arm, and open and close the robot "pincers" by pinching your fingers closed or opening them. There are three arms that you can control, but of course you can only really use two at a time. If you want to use the third arm--perhaps because it has a different tool on the end--you push the toggle button on the floor with your foot to switch arms.
Greg and I were wondering what happens if the surgeon sneezes during surgery...Does his arm flinch and cause the robot to use it's amazing strength to rip open the patient? Well, no. The fail-safe is the eye sensors in the control station. The robot is activated when it can see your eyes, but if you move your head and look away, the robot will freeze until it sees your eyes again. Another helpful thing is that the robot filters out "noise" in your movements. For instance, if you are an aging surgeon and your hands shake, the robot will not mimic your shaking. It makes all movements fluid and smooth.
You can see in the picture that there is a screen that shows live what the surgeon is doing, and then you can touch the screen and point out something to the surgeon. The surgeon is also able to control where the camera arm is, and zoom in or out according to his needs.
I just can't get over how much it makes me think of science fiction. This is the thing the aliens use to dissect the people they beam up from earth. Right? That's the image I get in my mind when I think of this robot. The helpful thing to remember is that the robot is not acting of its own accord, it is just a tool being used by a surgeon. (They don't program it to do anything--it responds directly in real time to the surgeon's hand movements.)
I could tell you more but this post might get too long and boring. If you're interested you can find a lot online about this guy--including videos.
