HeartLander Robot Walks All Over Your Heart
Writing by Conner Flynn on Wednesday, 10 of October , 2007 at 1:06 am
But it won’t leave you heartbroken. This tiny caterpillar-like robot from Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, can crawl across the surface of the heart to deliver therapy procedures which are much less invasive than how they are done currently. The robot can be inserted into the patient through a small incision. Once inside, the 2cm long robot attaches itself onto the heart and then is free to walk around via a joystick. It can then inject drugs or place small devices on the organ. They track it’s position on a graphical interface using an embedded tracking sensor known as microBIRD.
The robot is basically vacuum tubes and wires. As you might have guessed, it uses the vacuum lines to stay on the heart’s surface, much like an astronaut with magnetic boots. Traditional heart surgery requires massive incisions and the heart normally has to be stopped before doctors can even operate. So, this little bot will save some people alot of pain and, well, heartache. They have high hopes for this one.
[New Scientist] VIA [WaziWazi]
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Category: Medical
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