da Vinci robot performs organ transplant in the UK

So robotic doctors, nursebots and even remote surgery are pretty old news, but a hospital in the UK took its robotic surgery to the next level when it used the da Vinci surgical robot to perform a full live organ transplant. Whereas more simple surgeries have been attempted with da Vinci before, a live organ transplant is another order of magnitude more complex because of the care that must be taken not to damage the live tissue, as well as managing the blood flow during the process. The actual "remote" operation in this case took place from only a few feet away where the operating physician sat in front of a console, controlling the movements of the robotic "hands" — which sort of makes you wonder why s/he didn't just get up and walk over to the operating table but hey, all in the name of science, right?

[Via near near future]

[P @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

systems like the davinci allow more precise movements than a human hand could ever possibly execute.

they dampen out hand tremors and scale the movements of the doctor's hands, eg the doctor moves the stick 6 inches and it gets scaled to a 6mm movement at the robot end. VERY precise.

This site is a good resource except for the snarky comments by the author. They come off as being uninformed and immature.

[Seth @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Well in defense of Peter and the crew, Engadget is really more about consumer electronics rather than medical technologies. While they may not be right on target with the healthcare technologies, usually the questions they raise with regards to consumer gadgets (PDAs, phones, consoles, mp3 players, etc) are important ones, and the commentary is one of the reasons I read their site and listen to the podcast.

[bottisatva @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I for one, welcome our new da Vinci overlords

[ondigo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Sorta makes me wonder who said, "I'd rather have the waldo operating on me than a real doctor."

[lupinstel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

But where can I go to get my hand transplanted with that cool robot hand? Paging Dr. Nick Riviera.