Robot surgeon removes brain tumor from Canadian, will see more patients soon

Though it's certainly not the first time a robotic surgeon has made news after joining the staff at a Canadian hospital, history has just been made in Calgary. Doctors (the human kind) were able to use remote controls, an imaging screen and the neuroArm in order to successfully remove a brain tumor from a 21-year old woman. Hailed as the first procedure of its kind, the team already has a line of patients waiting to receive similar surgeries, and the mechanical hand is being praised for its precise movements and delicate nature. Unfortunately for the arm, no pay raise (or extended vacation) is in sight.

[Via Slashdot]

[nano @ May 19th 2008 1:20PM]

thought it read "Robot surgeon removed brain" thank God I read further.

[thethirdmoose @ May 19th 2008 7:24PM]

IM NOT YOUR BUDDY, GUY!

[Demaar @ May 19th 2008 9:30PM]

I'M NOT YOUR GUY, FRIEND!



Canadians are awesome. The question I have is, how much longer than a standard operation did this take?

[Adam @ May 19th 2008 1:21PM]

OMG!
I would not trust that thing!!
But thats cool...

[Low Ranked @ May 19th 2008 2:48PM]

Thank you for your extremely important 2 cents.

[BigD145 @ May 19th 2008 1:24PM]

Oh, man. Canadian health care sucks. /sarcasm

[Dillon @ May 19th 2008 1:56PM]

It does kind of. We do have all these great surgery robots... but there are only a few (maybe like 3 or 4). The waiting list to get help from that thing is probably years...

[Technex @ May 19th 2008 1:27PM]

Very good news, much better than a human could do as a robot would be the same everytime.

I just hope they never will skimp on electronics/programming!

Amazing news, mind you would be scary to see a robot next to you with a massive drill as you goto sleep! :O

[Boarderwoot @ May 19th 2008 1:33PM]

Not even halfway through the SECOND sentance the article states that HUMAN DOCTORS used remote controls along with a few other things to preform the surgery. Nothing was programed and as excited as you may be about programed robots putting more people in Canada out of job the robots aren't taking over...........atleast for now.

[Technex @ May 19th 2008 1:35PM]

Just you wait :). I bet they can decide for themselves also just they wouldn't allow it.

[ThirstyFerret @ May 19th 2008 2:23PM]

There are regulations in place which mean that devices have to pass safety tests and quality tests and so on before being used in medical applications, so your brain is safe.

[Eric @ May 19th 2008 5:25PM]

Doing the "same thing every time" is great except that people aren't all the same. Outsourcing and mechanizing all our technical skills to machinery seems like a bad idea in my books.

[AndrewNeo @ May 19th 2008 5:37PM]

Boarderwoot:
Nothing was programmed? You have a lot to learn about.. well, anything involving electronics..

[Chris Macdonald @ May 19th 2008 9:19PM]

Well it would kind of suck if the robot did the same every time. not everyones head is the same...

[Matthew Hilario @ May 19th 2008 1:29PM]

R/C Surgeon. Reserve yours at HobbyPeople today!

[IT-Accountant @ May 19th 2008 1:30PM]

Now they can operate on our brains!

Beware!!!!

lol

[Technex @ May 19th 2008 1:36PM]

Not for long.... :)

[Mike K @ May 19th 2008 1:38PM]

These kinds of advancements are great. With an assistant like this you can have the machine do with it does best (minutely controlled actions) and allow the human doctors to focus on the bigger picture.

These remote systems may also allow older (=? more experienced) doctors remain in the O.R. longer so the even if their fine motor control isn't 100% they can still assist in the programing and control of these systems.

From TFA: "Typically, the human hand can steady itself and move in increments of one or two millimetres. NeuroArm can move in increments of 50 microns."


Ofcourse the future moves towards telecommuting for doctors, although I think I would still prefer the doctor was in the room with me. I would however take remote-doctor over dying in some hospital where no doctor was available :)

[Jandalf @ May 19th 2008 2:13PM]

Yeah, great for intricate surgery; just don't replace your internists etc. with robots, please!

[ScooterDe @ May 19th 2008 2:45PM]

my brain surgeon was 70 years old and the results top notch. Age need not equal being infirm. A loose hand on a joystick is possibly just as risky, and most robots I've seen in action are pretty jerky. This is quite a feat.

[John Stracke @ May 19th 2008 10:00PM]

@ScooterDe: Not everybody who's, say, over 60 is losing fine motor control; but many people will, eventually. Devices like this allow them to keep applying their hard-won expertise longer...maybe even long enough to pay off their med school loans.

It's like when eyeglasses became available in the 14th century: suddenly, master craftsmen didn't have to retire when they became farsighted. This meant another 10 years or so of productive life, which was enough to give Europe's standard of living a major boost.

[Jim @ May 19th 2008 1:43PM]

"I, for one, welcome our new robot surgeon overlords!"

[nano @ May 19th 2008 1:53PM]

also comes with red dripping dots.

[Michael @ May 19th 2008 1:54PM]

But where does it keep it's bag of golf clubs?

[Dillon @ May 19th 2008 1:54PM]

Great to know that the robots are finally on our side :)

[Craig @ May 19th 2008 2:01PM]

It's just biding its time until our president's brain is in its metallic claw and threatens to go "squish" unless we grant freedom to all the repressed robots.

They are patient....very patient.

[ugg.tryptophan @ May 19th 2008 8:57PM]

@Craig Thats because they dont wear watches!

[halkonlar @ May 19th 2008 1:56PM]

When is SP1 due?

[Adrian Pinkewich @ May 19th 2008 2:33PM]

Since everyones bodies are just a little bit different I don't think you would want it programed. but i hope the remote surgeons don't sneeze. ooooo...

[ugg.tryptophan @ May 19th 2008 2:38PM]

if its all white, its all right!

[Blastar @ May 19th 2008 2:43PM]

I hope they ll not have a network connection problem during the procedure.

[ugg.tryptophan @ May 19th 2008 2:44PM]

the robot later put the tumor back in someone else, so ,yeah, robots are still evil

[tha-don @ May 19th 2008 3:06PM]

so when does the iSurgeon come out?

[g3n3tix @ May 19th 2008 3:14PM]

Full brain soon to follow ?

[FRZ @ May 19th 2008 3:41PM]

That is one more step for man and one giant leap for the matrix.

[Alexander @ May 19th 2008 4:11PM]

You people are all missing the point entirely: The guy was CANADIAN. He went in like this:

"Hey, where's the beer, eh? The game is about to start, and this mooseburger is missing a Labatt!"

So how do we know that the surgery is a success if the guy comes out like a blithering idiot?

*** JOKE *** JOKE *** JOKE *** JOKE *** JOKE *** JOKE *** JOKE ****

[t3_slider @ May 19th 2008 5:33PM]

Yep, that's all I do. Talk like a blithering idiot and drink beer. You nailed it -- that's all Canadians do.

Seriously, Canadian jokes CAN be hilarious (I'm Canadian, and every time they make a joke about Canadians being sub-par or 'weird' on TV shows I laugh), but it's only funny if it's done right. This is just stupid. Don't quit your day job.

I don't post "I'm American and I like shooting stuff and marrying my cousin" every time an American posts -- why is it that whenever the word 'Canadian' is uttered it must be followed by jokes? Southern Ontario is literally exactly like the northern US, except perhaps politically. I've never been to Calgary, but I wouldn't expect much of a difference.

Oops, I was too coherent there. What I meant to say was "Hey, where's the beer, eh? The game is about to start, and this mooseburger is missing a Labatt!" (I've never eaten Moose, but I would try anything once. But Labatt? Ew!)

[hughbie93 @ May 19th 2008 6:23PM]

I'm Canadian...And man do I love jokes "aboot" Canadian stereotypes, they just crack me up.

PS: I say "Eh" all the time

[computer.dude.28 @ May 19th 2008 7:14PM]

Couldn't agree more, t3_slider. I'm about as northwest in ontario as it gets (only 2 hours from winnipeg) but I've been to Toronto and Minneapolis and it all doesn't seem very different to me. But yes, as soon as you read "Canadian" in an Engadget headline you must expect the jokes to come rolling in..

And "eh" totally sounds better than "huh".
Cut back a little bit on the Canadian jokes, eh?

[Penguin Warlord @ May 20th 2008 12:12AM]

@ t3_slider
You're pretty much bang on. Although I do notice some differences between southern Ontario (well toronto atleast) and the states. It's that the average Torontonian is more globally aware than the average American. But the sad thing is that Calgary is even more like the states then Toronto (not just in the awareness but in the city design, and the culture) so his jokes are really completely groundless. And I wouldn't care about them if they were funny, like South Park's Blame Canada, it was hilarious. This is just dumb.

[Denver_80203 @ May 19th 2008 4:43PM]

What did they do with the Canadian when it was done?

[MARSHAK @ May 19th 2008 5:40PM]

sending her back to work or school after adequate recovery I would imagine. just as any other person would be doing regardless of country.

theres no room for any kind of bigotry here

[Ian @ May 19th 2008 5:38PM]

great because the arm didnt get his pay raise it's going to want to join a union, once it does that and gets support of other robots... well you can see where I'm going from here

[tonyis3l33t @ May 19th 2008 10:25PM]

this brings a whole new meaning to working from home...

[loosely_coupled @ May 20th 2008 2:35AM]

Microsoft SurgeonBot 2040 Ultimate edition... Anyone wanna be the first tester?

[peggy @ May 20th 2008 10:43AM]

and the Canadian woman will NOT be facing a lifetime of medical bills, because CanadA TAKES CARE OF ITS' CITIZENS