Surgery Robot Conducts Precise Operation on Corn Kernel; Can It Address Increasing Need for Microsurgery Around the World?

Sony has introduced a powerful new tool which can put corn back on the cob, kernel by kernel, with high precision. The company also hopes that this breakthrough technology can find medical applications in the future.

New Microsurgery Robot

Sony R&D has introduced their microsurgery assistance robot, a new tool which features tiny arms with ultra-small, low-friction joints. The robotic system was designed to be used in different facilities and surgical scenarios, with the robot and console made as compact as possible. This enables surgeons to work at 1/10 the scale possible using only the human hands.

The prototype was tested on the public at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Yokohama, Japan, where it performed surgery on an ear of corn. According to Sony, they have already executed successful tests of the robot with surgeons at Aichi Medical University, but they made a more daring, public corn operation for the IEEE event.

In the demonstration video, the robot shows tiny surgical scissors slicing open a small corn kernel and stitching it back together with high precision. It used tiny suture needles known as 12-0.

It is operated by a human surgeon who uses controllers to guide the robot and achieve smooth and jerk-free movements. To guide the movement of the robot, a surgeon peered through the robot's 1.3-type 4K OLED microdisplay goggles. This allows them to have a live feed from the device's 3D stereo-camera placed above the operating table.

Much-Needed SurgeryTool

The innovative robot was designed to assist in the field of super-microsurgery. This highly specialized field requires surgeons to operate on very small blood vessels and nerves with diameters under 0.04 inch (1 millimeter). Because of this, surgery tools need incredibly steady hands as the specialists do their work while looking through a microscope.

Because of the complex nature of microsurgery, it has become an ideal field for robotic assistance. This does not refer to AI-powered robot surgeons but teleoperation tools that enable surgeons to magnify their vision while shrinking the motions of their hands.

Surgery robots can completely remove the prerequisite of complex manipulative abilities among super-microsurgeons. A good surgical robot can allow a much wider range of individuals to perform the infinitesimally tiny work using bigger movements and far more unstable hands.

Sony hopes that the compact nature of their microsurgery assistance robot and its control console will enable the device to be used by those who perform treatment and those in need of treatment. It can have a wide range of applications in tough settings, from cramped hospitals to disaster sites.

Last February, surgeons and other medical practitioners at Aichi Medical University used the robot in an animal surgery experiment. They successfully conducted the procedure even without prior advanced training in microsurgical procedures.

Aichi doctors were able to make an anastomosis with a very small diameter of only 0.6 millimeters. In the future, Sony plans to collaborate with university medical departments and medical institutions to further improve and confirm the effectiveness of robotic surgical assistance technology.