The World’s Smallest Surgical Robot Is Almost Ready for the Operating Room
The bot can decrease patients' risk of infection and need for painkillers.
MEET VERSIUS. By the end of 2018, surgeons in the United Kingdom could have a new assistant in the operating room: Versius, the world's smallest surgical robot.
Created by CMR Surgical, the bot is essentially three robotic arms attached to a mobile unit about the size of a barstool, according to a recent report by The Guardian. A surgeon controls the bot from a control panel, guiding the arms as they carry out keyhole procedures (surgeries performed through tiny incisions in the body — much less invasive than open surgeries, which require much larger incisions).
BETTER FOR SURGEONS. CMR Surgical is in the process of getting Versius approved by UK regulators so that it can move out of the training room and into the operating room. The company hopes to pass this regulatory hurdle before the end of this year. If approved, the bot could benefit both the surgeons that wield it, and the patients under its tiny knife.
Doctors often find themselves in uncomfortable positions when they perform keyhole surgeries. To get their instruments right where they need to be, they may need to bend their bodies at strange angles, and hold them for extended periods of time. Versius lets them avoid these potentially painful positions by doing the maneuvering for them, while the surgeons can do their work by simply sitting or standing at the bot's console.