At present, robotics is one of the fastest growing fields with various applications. The most prominent application of it is observed in the field of medical through assisting perform a surgery. In many instances, the surgeons manage the motion of robots via dials, knobs, joysticks, and other secondary options. Recently, a team of researchers has designed an exoskeleton at the University of the West of England, which converts the hands of a doctor into the controls.
The exoskeleton can slide over the hands of the surgeons just as a glove. To the other tip of the device is a new surgical gripper that can not only shift as per the hand gestures of the doctors but it is provided with haptic feedback, meaning, the surgeons can sense what the gripper was holding or touching in the body of the patient. The third element of the exoskeleton arrangement is an array of smart glasses, which would show pictures from the interior of a body of the patient to the surgeon’s eyes. This would enable the doctors to sense closely in procedures rather than utilizing the existing robotic surgical systems.
Sanja Dogramadzi, said, “In this study, the exoskeleton will trace the location of the fingers and correspond this to the robotic tools in the interior of the body with the use of tele-operated technology. We desire to offer existing procedures a more natural interface such that the operating surgeons will not need to do any unnatural or unusual movements. They can utilize their hands just in a similar way they use them in an open incision surgery, which would automatically reduce the time required to train them for using the robotic technology during.”
The main motive for this development is that human hands are big and putting them inside the body to function needs outsized incisions. On the contrary, robots can function via many minor incisions through a procedure called as keyhole surgery. Thus, this results in shorter recovery times, less blood loss, and a decreased risk of infection. Further, in some instances, robots are can be superior to human surgeons. The team has already developed a model of the system that they will keep improving with contribution from surgeons.
Isn’t it a great step forward in the field of surgery? What do you think about it?
