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posted by janrinok on Sunday August 02 2015, @11:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the is-that-wind-power? dept.

Japanese researchers have developed an air-powered surgical assist robot that can change a camera view inside a patient’s body with a mere nod by a surgeon.

Emaro is the first pneumatically driven robot in the world that can control an endoscope, a tube-like camera used to see inside the body, to assist surgeons in operations, according to the researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

Emaro consists of a compressor, a control panel and a column that supports an arm that works the endoscope. The surgeon can control its movements in hands-free fashion while working forceps manipulators inside the body and viewing the Emaro camera feed on a large monitor.

Because it's powered by compressed air, the Emaro endoscope can move smoothly and precisely, and the researchers said it can improve the safety of surgery with laparoscopes, a type of endoscope. Laparoscopic surgeries involve the insertion of long fiber-optic tubes through small incisions in the abdomen. Such minimally invasive operations leave smaller scars and can promote better recovery.

The Emaro scope can move along four axes—back and fourth, side to side, up and down and rotational.

At a demo at Tokyo Institute of Technology on Friday, a researcher put on a surgical cap fitted with a gyroscope over the forehead. When he moved his head, the machine would move the endoscope, including the camera and light at its tip. He also used foot switches to send directional controls to the device, and to put it into manual control mode.


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2015, @12:11AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2015, @12:11AM (#217161)

    When the surgeon sneezes.

  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday August 03 2015, @03:52AM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Monday August 03 2015, @03:52AM (#217222)

    They'd better not have been granted a patent on this. I worked with a guy in school (like 30 years ago) that was developing robots using air pressure for movements. It's not only very good a delicate operations, it can be used to provide quite a lot of strength and it feels liek human muscle resistance when you do something like shake hands with one. Very cool idea, and much lighter than hydraulics.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2015, @10:33AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2015, @10:33AM (#217331)

      I saw an article around that time, perhaps in Popular Electronics, detailing how to build a robot which moved under the power of compressed air, controlled by repurposed automotive EGR valves.

  • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday August 03 2015, @07:55AM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday August 03 2015, @07:55AM (#217280) Homepage

    The Emaro scope can move along four axes

    That's a neat trick.

    back and fourth

    Front and third...

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk