Sony Group Corporation (Sony) has announced the development of a microsurgery assistance robot capable of automatic surgical instrument exchange and precision control. The prototype was showcased at the Sony booth during the 2024 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2024), in Yokohama on 13 May.
An ageing population has led to a significant shortage of medical practitioners, who are facing increased workloads. In the field of surgery, which demands high skill levels, the use of surgical robots that assist with precision operations is expected to reduce surgeons’ workloads and facilitate the spread of advanced medical services.
Developed by Sony’s R&D team, the prototype is designed to assist in microsurgical procedures. It is intended for use with a microscope to operate on extremely small tissues, such as veins and nerves. The robot replicates the movements of the surgeons’ hands and fingers, captured with a highly sensitive control device, on a small surgical instrument that operates with the fluidity of the human wrist.
Traditional surgical assistant robots often face practical challenges, such as interruptions and delays due to the manual exchange of surgical instruments. Sony’s R&D team has addressed this by miniaturising the instruments and developing a system for their automatic exchange. This advancement opens the possibility for the robot to assist in a wide variety of surgical procedures, enabling more medical practitioners to perform microsurgeries that require delicate operations.
In February 2024, an experiment was conducted by Aichi Medical University, where surgeons and other medical practitioners who do not specialise in microsurgical procedures used the prototype to successfully perform an anastomosis on animal blood vessels (approximately 0.6 mm in diameter). This marks the world’s first instance of microvascular anastomosis achieved using a surgical assistance robot with an automatic instrument exchange function, according to Sony research, as of 9 May 2024.
Sony plans to collaborate with university medical departments and medical institutions to further develop and verify the effectiveness of this robotic surgical assistance technology. By continuing its research and development, Sony aims to help address challenges in the medical field and contribute to the advancement of medicine through robotic technologies.
There’s plenty of other editorial on our sister site, Electronic Specifier! Or you can always join in the conversation by commenting below or visiting our LinkedIn page.
