Would you let a robot perform surgery on your eye? Axsis robot uses flexible arms just 1.8 millimeters wide to carry out delicate procedures
A robot equipped with tiny, tentacle-like instruments could soon be used to perform surgery on human eyes, the Daily Mail reports.
It may sound like something out of a nightmare, but researchers say the device has potential to revolutionize medical procedures, providing a more accurate, minimally invasive way to carry out surgeries.
Cambridge Consultants has now unveiled its prototype Axsis robot, revealing a glimpse at how the delicate instrument could perform one of the world’s most common procedures – cataract surgery.
While most surgical robots rely on a large build to control straight instruments, Axsis uses flexible robotic arms, each just 1.8 millimetres in diameter.
Its movements are controlled by cables roughly the width of a human hair, but stronger than Kevlar and steel.
To operate the system, a surgeon uses two haptic joysticks, which provide instant feedback to the user, according to a video on the technology.
And, it’s equipped with sensing algorithms minimize the risk of human error.