There was a robot capable of penetrating the skull

Specialists from the Eindhoven University of Technology have created a robot capable of carrying out operations related to craniotomy.

In order to carry out manipulations with the brain, it is required to provide access to it. To do this, doctors currently carry out the procedure for drilling holes in the skull. This process is extremely risky and requires filigree accuracy from a doctor, not every neurosurgeon can perform such operations.

The new robot surgeon RoBoSculp is able to replace a person in surgery for craniotomy in the next five years. The robot is a manipulator machine equipped with a surgical drill. The doctor-operator is only required to specify the location of access on a sample of computed tomography, the device will do the rest independently. 7 axes, provided by the design of the manipulator, allow you to choose any angle for the operation.

The first test tests of the device ended successfully, the clinical tests will begin as soon as possible. Despite the great potential of RoBoSculp, it is not able to handle the brain itself. To carry out any interventions, the organ must be clearly fixed, but the extreme part of the brain tissue has a high degree of softness, therefore, to set a program that can take into account all the nuances of its fixation is currently not possible.