It’s one thing to have a robot make you coffee (Mr. Coffee) or wash your clothes (Maytag) or even pilot an airplane (the classic autopilot), but to have one cut open a human and make some repairs. I guess this isn’t that much like ‘Saturn 3‘, a human is still running the show albeit remotely. The autodoc may become part of the standard military field hospital in the next few years, that would be a very good thing as the modern warfare techniques are allowing for a higher survivability rate and in previous combat situations.
The da Vinci Surgical System, is a robotic device which allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery with the intuitive control, range of motion, fine tissue manipulation capability and 3-D visualization characteristic of open surgery.
The da Vinci seamlessly and directly translates the surgeon’s natural hand, wrist and finger movements on instrument controls at the surgeon’s console outside the patient’s body into corresponding micro-movements of the instrument tips positioned inside the patient through small incisions.