With the University of California San Diego, operating rooms may get an upgrade. With the help of Michael Yip, the electrical engineering professor and director of the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory, the world is now going to see a much more techy and precise operating room.
As technology continues to grow and innovate, the medical field will benefit more when it comes to precision. With the use of robots in the operating room, they can become an important tool when it comes to surgeries.
With human surgeons guiding these tools, robots can make surgeries faster and much more precise, as reported by the University of California, San Diego. Michael Yip and his engineers continue to work on advanced robotics to meet that goal. What Yip and his team are working on are intelligent algorithms that powers robots to assist as well as other tools such as "smart" endoscopes that can maneuver on its own.
For some, this kind of technology can be critical and many fear that it may soon replace human surgeons. Yip explains that his goal is not to replace human surgeons. Instead, the University of California San Diego is there to create tools that can help make surgeries accurate. When it comes to surgery, everything should be precise. Decisions are still going to be made by human controllers.
Currently, such robots are being tested in the University of California San Diego. Some are already being used in hospitals. Like the da Vinci Surgical System. This has four robotic arms and a surgeon can control two arms at a time, as reported by Phys.org. These arms can perform surgical tasks such as suction, irrigation and pulling tissue. With four arms, this reduces the number of physicians in the operating room.
These robots can move fast with human-like artificial muscles. The need for agility and speed is necessary. More research into this tech is being done by Jun Zhang and bioengineering undergraduate Taylor West. There are many more robots being tested in the University of California San Diego. Yip and the rest of the team hopes that this will be the operating room of the future.
Watch University of California San Diego's clip of a catheter robot below:
