Key points from article :
Researchers produce a miniature remote center of motion manipulator (RCM).
Mini-RCM weighs 2.4 g and measures 50 mm × 70 mm × 50 mm.
Successfully performed a difficult mock surgical task in a recent trial.
Like Japanese paper art of origami, the “Pop-Up MEMS”’ method can unfurl into a more complex structure.
It correct hand tremors and other disturbances during teleoperation.
It is a much cheaper and accessible than micromechanical devices.
Robot can be easily removed from a patient’s body by hand, in the case of a complication or electrical outage.
Team connected mini-RCM to a Phantom Omni device which manipulated the mini-RCM in response to surgeon’s hand.
Improved accuracy, reducing errors by 68 percent compared to manual operation.
"It has potential to improve the safety and efficiency of surgeries to make them less invasive for patients" - Robert Wood, Wyss Associate member.
Research by Harvard’s Wyss Institute and the Sony Corporation published in Nature Machine Intelligence.
