Surgeon Makes Tiny Plane with No Robotic Assist

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[citation][nom]wikid[/nom]let's see if your Alan Dang can do that half way up someone's colon[/citation]

Well, he's an orthopedic surgeon, so there's really no reason for him to be halfway up someone's colon.
 
but it's done with considerable larger amount of shaking!

It may be just as accurate, but if you're dabbing in someone's guts, with a laser, and shake as much as he did, you're going to cause some considerable damage inside!
 
[citation][nom]wikid[/nom]let's see if your Alan Dang can do that half way up someone's colon[/citation]
I know. Technically my grungy digits can make a plane smaller than both of them in half the time. However, I don't think anyone would appreciate both my arms shoved half way up their rear.
 
The robot's actions are a bit smoother though. They probably have a Kalman filter or something to slow down the human's shaky-ness. I'm not criticizing Dr. Dang because it is very impressive indeed. But the robot's actions are just a bit more...what's the word...smoother and calm.
 
Yeah, but I believe the purpose of the vid with the robot is to illustrate how delicate surgeries could be performed from hundreds if not thousands of miles away, wasn't it? Maybe I should have turned the sound on during the video.
 
I take umbrage to the description of the da Vinci as a "robot". By that definition, any tool in skilled hands is a robot. Is my car a robot? It translates my hand and foot movements (through the use of complicated mechanics, electronics, and computer control) into a specialized movement that on my own I couldn't perform, especially with other passengers aboard.
 
@wikid: Obviously, the surgical robot has a role in real-life. The point of the video isn't to say that robots are useless. They're great tools. But robot is just another tool for surgeons to use. It's not the robot that makes folding small paper airplanes possible, it's Dr. Porter's skill. When someone watches the original video, I don't want them to think "that's an impressive piece of hardware." I want them to think "that's an impressive demo of Dr. Porter's skill with a surgical robot."

@Prodigit10: We don't use those disposable $0.50 forceps when we do real microsurgery. :) Surgical grade (not eBay-grade) microinstruments can run you $500. That makes a big difference in terms of being able to hold the tissue better. It's actually possible (routine) to repair small nerves with suture that's 0.02mm in diameter using manual instruments and the assistance of 2.5x or 3.5x magnification loupes!

The shaking actually reveals an important nuance/secret of surgical technique. When I'm above the piece of paper, you can see that the forceps are very shaky. But as I grab the paper and fold it, suddenly it looks more stable. That's because I'm concentrating a lot more at that point. The same thing is true in real surgery. When you're far away from a nerve, you're pretty shaky but as you get closer, the shakiness stops as you concentrate. Surgery is basically a long series of sequential steps, each step lasting only a few seconds a most, but requiring exceptional precision for that moment in time.

It's the same thing with military/Olympic sharpshooters. They may move and shake a lot initially, but in the moment right before they pull the trigger, suddenly their tremor stops. There was a show on Discovery Channel which demonstrated this phenomenon with a laser sight.
 
[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]Well, he's an orthopedic surgeon, so there's really no reason for him to be halfway up someone's colon.[/citation]

there was also no reason for him to do this in the first place. what i would like to see him do is do this inside someones sinus cavity, that way when they sneese, the paper airplane will launch out.
[citation][nom]ProDigit10[/nom]but it's done with considerable larger amount of shaking!It may be just as accurate, but if you're dabbing in someone's guts, with a laser, and shake as much as he did, you're going to cause some considerable damage inside![/citation]

this kind of thing with the tweezers is more for stitching people up than cutting them open.

[citation][nom]ecrenshaw[/nom]The robot's actions are a bit smoother though. They probably have a Kalman filter or something to slow down the human's shaky-ness. I'm not criticizing Dr. Dang because it is very impressive indeed. But the robot's actions are just a bit more...what's the word...smoother and calm.[/citation]

well here, the way the robot works is by taking the actions that a human would normal do, and scaling it down considerably. depending on the scale he may have to move his arm 20 inches to move the robots 2 inches. all the shakiness is still there, but its just scaled down so much that it may as well not exist.
 
But how much more confident would you be with a surgeon using a 2-million dollar machine compared to the guy that pulls out the disposable tweezers?
 
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