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Sony unveils advanced microsurgery assistance robot

40 points by andrewfromx 2y ago

throwaway81523 2y ago
I don't understand the need for all the high tech electronics in this. It looks like it could straightforwardly be done with 19th century mechanical linkages and a binocular microscope. Maybe it was. Also, the word "Waldo" is missing :(.
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  Contrary to what the article implies, this isn't just passing the mechanical motions through. There's a lot of highly configurable signal processing to remove things like hand tremors. Good luck designing a mechanical linkage for that. The tolerance issues with the mechanicals would probably rival the cost and complexity here since you'd have no calibration mechanisms either and the maintenance/lifecycle would be disastrously expensive for the same reason. Robotics is simply better for this.
  - throwaway81523 2y ago
    I see, thanks. In the video it looked like the motions were simply being passed through, and tremors were made less important by the scaling. However, again, they can mostly be damped by simple mechanical filters, same idea as shock absorbers on cars. I can see how a digital system could do a better job by adjusting itself adaptively during use.
atonse 2y ago
I’ve watched a few videos on YouTube (using the DaVinci surgical robots) and they’re nothing short of amazing. The ability to perform (certain) surgical procedures while minimizing trauma to the body and speeding up healing, is a welcome advance. I’m not a doctor, just a curious nerd.
- bigyikes 2y ago
  My grandparents each recently had a similar knee surgery done. My grandfather’s was performed manually by a human. It took him a couple of weeks to get walking again. My grandmother’s was done via a DaVinci bot, and she was walking in just a few days. Totally anecdotal of course, but it was amazing to see a side-by-side comparison like that. Not sure why gramps didn’t get the bot.
bigyikes 2y ago
I love how the demo video operates on a corn kernel. First they did surgery on a grape, now they did surgery on a corn :) It’s a bit surprising to me that this came from Sony. What a group! They create top of the line gaming consoles, digital cameras, and… surgical robots?! I’m trying to think of a similar conglomerate in the US, but nothing comes to mind. I wonder why Sony has so much diversity of industry.
- kotaKat 2y ago
  You'd be amazed at what the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company became. ;) Come for the VHB and Post-it® notes, stay for weird esoteric things like the 3M Coding and Reimbursement System. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/health-information-systems-us/improve-revenue-cycle/coding/facility/coding-reimbursement-system-plus/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/health-information-systems-us/im... - in hospital IT, I dealt with this monster... and had a 3M toner vacuum next to my desk.
zomg 2y ago
the robotic surgical space is an extremely difficult market to break into. for laparoscopic procedures, intuitive surgical is generations ahead of their nearest competitor. they maintain market leadership by possessing massive amounts of intellectual property and by creating very unique "lock-in" with surgical analytics that are reported to hospital executives. they effectively "score" surgeons with a way to calculate their ROI/profitability to the hospital.

40 points by andrewfromx 2y ago

I don't understand the need for all the high tech electronics in this. It looks like it could straightforwardly be done with 19th century mechanical linkages and a binocular microscope. Maybe it was. Also, the word "Waldo" is missing :(.

AlotOfReading 2y ago
Contrary to what the article implies, this isn't just passing the mechanical motions through. There's a lot of highly configurable signal processing to remove things like hand tremors. Good luck designing a mechanical linkage for that. The tolerance issues with the mechanicals would probably rival the cost and complexity here since you'd have no calibration mechanisms either and the maintenance/lifecycle would be disastrously expensive for the same reason. Robotics is simply better for this.
- throwaway81523 2y ago
  I see, thanks. In the video it looked like the motions were simply being passed through, and tremors were made less important by the scaling. However, again, they can mostly be damped by simple mechanical filters, same idea as shock absorbers on cars. I can see how a digital system could do a better job by adjusting itself adaptively during use.

atonse 2y ago

I’ve watched a few videos on YouTube (using the DaVinci surgical robots) and they’re nothing short of amazing. The ability to perform (certain) surgical procedures while minimizing trauma to the body and speeding up healing, is a welcome advance. I’m not a doctor, just a curious nerd.

bigyikes 2y ago
My grandparents each recently had a similar knee surgery done. My grandfather’s was performed manually by a human. It took him a couple of weeks to get walking again. My grandmother’s was done via a DaVinci bot, and she was walking in just a few days. Totally anecdotal of course, but it was amazing to see a side-by-side comparison like that. Not sure why gramps didn’t get the bot.

bigyikes 2y ago

I love how the demo video operates on a corn kernel. First they did surgery on a grape, now they did surgery on a corn :) It’s a bit surprising to me that this came from Sony. What a group! They create top of the line gaming consoles, digital cameras, and… surgical robots?! I’m trying to think of a similar conglomerate in the US, but nothing comes to mind. I wonder why Sony has so much diversity of industry.

kotaKat 2y ago
You'd be amazed at what the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company became. ;) Come for the VHB and Post-it® notes, stay for weird esoteric things like the 3M Coding and Reimbursement System. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/health-information-systems-us/improve-revenue-cycle/coding/facility/coding-reimbursement-system-plus/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/health-information-systems-us/im... - in hospital IT, I dealt with this monster... and had a 3M toner vacuum next to my desk.

zomg 2y ago

the robotic surgical space is an extremely difficult market to break into. for laparoscopic procedures, intuitive surgical is generations ahead of their nearest competitor. they maintain market leadership by possessing massive amounts of intellectual property and by creating very unique "lock-in" with surgical analytics that are reported to hospital executives. they effectively "score" surgeons with a way to calculate their ROI/profitability to the hospital.