In their quest for kinder cutting, physicians increasingly rely
on endoscopic surgery, replacing large scalpels and clamps with
cameras and flexible tools that snake into the body through tiny
holes. The technique is far less traumatic for patients but
exhausting for the surgeons. "Suppose I asked you to pick up a
noodle from a plate," says engineer Sunil Singh, "but I put the
plate inside a box with two holes on top and asked you not just
to go in and pick it up but to cut and stitch it too."
Exasperated, Singh and his colleague John Wen of Endobotics and
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developed Endobot, a robot that
can take over much of the mundane stitching and slicing during
surgery. Endobot features two movable arms that have
interchangeable tools attached. Once the arms are in position,
the surgeon flicks a switch--or in a future version, barks out
an order--and the tools begin to cut, grasp, suture, or drill.
Those procedures are perfect for hernia repair, gallstone
removal, and one day even heart s