Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University were able to teach the machines to manipulate needles, and tie knots so that they could suture wounds autonomously. — Graphic: 123rf
Robot surgeons have been used for decades to help doctors perform surgeries like gallbladder removals, hysterectomies, prostate surgeries and other procedures, a report in the Washington Post notes.
But most of these operations were not fully automated – typically, a surgeon guides the robot’s limbs through precise moves using controllers, a little like an advanced real-life computer game. This technique offers a degree of precision that human hands alone can’t quite match, making robotic surgeons incredibly useful.
But that all might change now, the Post says, since researchers have successfully trained state of the art of robot surgeons with next-generation technology, using videos of procedures, so that machines now have the ability to “perform surgical tasks with the skill of human doctors”.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University were able to teach the machines to manipulate needles, and tie knots so that they could suture wounds autonomously. And, the Post notes, the robots went beyond simply imitating their training material, and were able to correct mistakes without being commanded to fix their work.
The training, and the ability of these systems to go slightly beyond the data they’ve already incorporated echoes how current generation AI chatbots are trained through exposure to vast amounts of real world data, often in text form.
Similarly, in the manner that some AI supporters spin the technology as a way to improve workers’ efficiency instead of outright replacing people in other businesses, the new robot surgeons aren’t being touted as out-and-out replacements for fallible human doctors.
The Post quotes Axel Krieger, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering who supervised the research, who explained that the work isn’t about “trying to replace the surgeon.” Instead, it’s about trying to “make things easier for the surgeon.”
Do you want a “tired surgeon, where you’re the last patient of the day, and the surgeon is super-exhausted? Or do you want a robot that is doing a part of that surgery and really helping out the surgeon?” Kreiger said.
The system even echoes some of the way that chatbots work. A postdoctoral researcher who worked with Krieger said that the team has even developed a system where a surgeon can chat to the robot, just like they may speak to a surgical resident, commanding it to do tasks or perform actions like “move left”.
The team said the advantage of training the system using video material is that it reduces the need to program the machines to perform individual precise movements needed for a surgical procedure, the team explained.
One issue that may have to be tackled before the robots advance to performing operations on real human bodies is that the training videos involved practice surgeries on synthetic models. Issues like patient privacy will have to be addressed before training videos of actual surgeries can be made and put to use with the robodocs.
Robots have long been promoted as the “next big thing”, but haven’t quite reached the mainstream in the way science fiction predicted they would. That seems to be changing, thanks to incredible advances in AI technology.
Google, for example, has been experimenting with augmenting the way robots work by incorporating its Gemini AI tech into robot “brains”, which help give the robot a sense of context when it’s given a command, and help it remember previous instructions. And early this year, tech luminary Bill Gates predicted that humanoid robots really are coming, and may even become your next co-worker.
Tesla, the EV-making car company, may even pivot to being a robot making company – owner Elon Musk has even predicted that the company may sell “tens of billions” of its human-shaped Optimus robot.
These forecasts, and the developments in robotic surgery advanced by the Hopkins and Stanford researchers, all suggest the robot revolution may finally be upon us, transforming industries of all sizes as workplaces embrace the promise of a machine that never tires, can work 24/7 and won’t go on strike (at least until AIs gain that next-gen level of human-like smarts).
The question about how much people are willing to entrust themselves to robot technology remains, though. Many drivers are already wary of trusting their safety on the road to a robot car – which is essentially a Tesla operating in “full self drive” mode.
A 2022 Pew Research survey, for example, found roughly 60% of adults said they “would not want to ride in a driverless passenger vehicle if they had the opportunity,” compared to a much smaller share, 37%, who said say they would want to do this.
Will people needing delicate surgery trust themselves to go under the knife when a robot, not a human doctor, wields the scalpel? – Inc./Tribune News Service
