Robo First

Robo First

For the first time ever, robots have successfully performed an operation that helped implant a hearing device into a deaf women's ear.

This diagram shows just how delicate of a surgery cochlear implants are.  The robot was required to work within the tiny space between the facial and taste nerve, this means that the robot had to be extremely precise in order for the operation to be successful.

The Women who was operated on is 51 years old, and was completely deaf in both ears due to a rare auto immune disease.  This operation was set to be placed her ear in order for her to regain hearing once again.  The difference between a hearing aid and a cochlear implant is that while a hearing aid amplifies sound so that damaged ears can detect them, a cochlear implant bypasses this and sends the sound right to the auditory nerve that is responsible for hearing.

Link to the Video: http://www.livescience.com/58274-robot-assists-tricky-cochlear-implant-surgery.html#ooid=YzNThjYTE6BdmMzcFQx2eHRAq0Dn_kD2

Weber and his colleagues stated that they have created a robot that overcomes the challenges that human surgeons face while performing the operation.  Most of the operation is still done by humans, but the robot completes perhaps the trickiest step in the whole entire procedure; drilling a microscopic hole in the skull bone surrounding the ear without causing heat related injury to nearby nerves.

"The drill needs to pass between nerves at a distance of less than 1 millimeter,"

The researchers have developed the most accurate robotic drill reported yet for a medical procedure. The degree of accuracy is about as little as .015 inches in 99.7% of all procedures that it has been used in.

Original Article: http://www.livescience.com/58274-robot-assists-tricky-cochlear-implant-surgery.html