Surgical robots lead the trend of medical electronics innovation

Robots are not only used in the industrial field, but also in the medical system. For example, the famous surgical robot has only been around for 10 years, but it has also made significant progress.

In fact, a surgical robot is a combination of a group of instruments. It is usually assembled from an endoscope (probe), surgical instruments such as knives and scissors, a micro camera, a joystick and other devices. According to foreign manufacturers, the working principle of the surgical robot currently in use is a surgical operation performed through wireless operation, that is, the doctor sits in front of a computer monitor and carefully observes the lesion in the patient's body through the monitor and endoscope, and then accurately removes (or repairs) the lesion with the scalpel in the robot's hand. This system, named MIS by foreign scientists, is the basis for designing all surgical robots. Take the Da Vinci surgical robot currently used in hospitals in various countries as an example. As long as a very small incision is made on the patient's skin surface and the probe is inserted into the body, the location of the patient's lesion can be observed, and then the scalpel in the robot's hand can be used to remove it.

In addition, surgical robots can also perform very delicate operations such as organ repair, vascular anastomosis or bone grinding. In recent years, surgical robots have been used to perform various important operations including gene transplantation, neurosurgery and remote surgery, greatly improving the survival rate of critically ill patients.

As the use of surgical robots becomes more and more widespread, their sales in countries around the world are increasing. According to foreign reports, as of the end of last year, the United States ranked first in the world in terms of the number of surgical robots (about 300 units), followed by the United Kingdom (about 80 to 90 units), and South Korea ranked third (37 units). So far, more than 40 countries, including China, have various surgical robots. They are all Da Vinci surgical robots produced by Intuitive Surgical Company in the United States or newly developed surgical robots in Europe, and the former are currently the majority. It is reported that European manufacturers independently developed surgical robots 5 years ago, namely the Zeus surgical robot and AESOP surgical robot produced by Computer Motion Company, and their working principles are similar to those of the Da Vinci surgical robots of American companies.

What is exciting is that researchers from the Third Military Medical University of my country have recently developed a new robot system specifically for minimally invasive spinal surgery, which can replace doctors working under radiation conditions. It can not only improve the accuracy of surgery, but also reduce surgical risks. At the same time, it can also reduce the damage of radiation to doctors. A few years ago, researchers from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics cooperated with the Navy General Hospital to develop a new robot CRAS-BH1 that can be used for remote cranial surgery. It is reported that the system has been successfully used in hundreds of brain surgeries across the country.

In recent years, foreign countries have made new progress in the development of surgical robots. This article briefly introduces the development of new technologies of surgical robots abroad.

Abdominal surgery robot

Not long ago, researchers at the Institute of Medical Diagnostic Imaging Technology at JIKEI University in Japan developed a pocket-sized abdominal surgical robot. Its maximum size is only 6mm. According to the developer, the abdominal robot is suitable for various intra-abdominal direct vision surgeries and cardiovascular surgeries. The newly developed surgical robot is equipped with a stereo camera, two joysticks and a 3mm diameter flexible tube (which can be used as an instrument channel). In addition, the surgical robot can also be equipped with 4D ultrasonic imaging equipment and other equipment, and its versatility is strong.

Snake robot

Last year, a research team from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States developed a snake-like surgical robot (CARDIA-ARM). It has a "snake head" (with a camera and some surgical instruments installed inside). Its "snake body" is composed of several freely bendable parts, with a total length of 300mm and a diameter of 12mm for the "snake head" and "snake body". According to the developers, the snake-like robot is suitable for various vascular surgeries, especially complex arterial vascular surgeries, such as removing lipid plaques attached to the inner wall of the artery. As long as a small incision is made on the chest skin and the snake-like robot is inserted, the surgery can be performed, and the patient recovers quickly after the surgery.

Knee surgery robot

A research center under National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan has developed a new robot suitable for various knee surgeries. It is said that the bones, muscles and nerves of the human knee are very compact and complex. When doctors operate the scalpel on the knee, they may injure the nerves or muscles if they are not careful. The knee surgery robot developed by National Taiwan University has a hexagonal parallel joystick. Under the guidance of software, the surgical robot can perform various complex knee surgeries, such as precise grinding of bone growth parts to restore them to their original state, thus replacing surgeons to perform some difficult operations.

Portable and low-cost surgical robot

The current price of surgical robots on the market is about 1 million US dollars per unit. This is a bit unaffordable for hospitals in developing countries. In order to develop a popular surgical robot, researchers from the Department of Electronics and Mechanics at Purdue University in the United States have finally developed a new type of portable surgical robot after years of research. The price is only 200,000 to 250,000 US dollars per unit, which is about 1/4 to 1/5 of the current market price of surgical robots. It is understood that the surgical robot newly developed by Purdue University is extremely sensitive and suitable for high-precision surgical operations such as prostate cancer resection. Because there are various nerves near the prostate, manual surgery can easily damage the sexual nerves, causing adverse consequences such as impotence in patients. The incision of this surgical robot is very precise and will never damage the nerves around the prostate.

Cardiovascular surgery robot

Last year, researchers at the University of Tokyo developed a new robot (C-PORT-FLEX A) suitable for minimally invasive cardiovascular surgery.

As we all know, cardiothoracic surgery is difficult and once the operation goes wrong, it is very likely to endanger the patient's life. The Japanese medical community is leading the world in endoscopic surgery. Even so, every year, patients in the Japanese medical community die from cardiovascular surgery, such as coronary heart disease bypass surgery. The new cardiovascular surgery robot developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo is compact in size and can accurately complete surgical operations that require high precision, such as vascular suture, under the guidance of a probe. It is expected that this cardiovascular surgery robot will be put into mass production this year.