Next from NASA: Robo Surgeon

NASA will begin testing a portable robot surgeon developed by doctors and scientists from the University of Washington.

Starting sometime in May, NASA will begin underwater testing of a portable medical robot that will give doctors and scientists a feel for remote surgery that needs to be performed in space.

This portable robot can be controlled by humans over the Internet that are miles away from the actual surgical site. The U.S. Department of Defense is helping to fund this research so these portable robots can be used to treat wounded soldiers, to perform surgery on patients in remote parts of the world, and to help aid ill astronauts in space.

Professor Blake Hannaford, co-director of the UW BioRobotics Lab, said the main difference between this surgical robot and the ones now being used now in U.S. hospitals is communication and portability.

The current crop of robot surgeons weigh several thousand pounds which makes moving these robots to others sites a difficult task. These robots are not easily broken down, are difficult to put back together, and the current robots were not made to be controlled from miles away.

On the other hand, these new portable robot surgeons developed at the University of Washington have parts that weight only fifty pounds, are easily broken down for transportation, and these robot can easily be put back to together by non-engineers at remote sites.

This new portable surgical robot is called Raven. Raven will be testing its surgical skill in the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory off the coast of Florida. Raven will be underwater holding surgical instruments while the humans controlling its movement will be seated in Seattle.

The humans will sit in front of a computer screen while holding onto the same surgical instruments being held thousands of miles away by Raven. These doctors and scientists will be testing their, and Ravens, ability to sew rubber tubing. This rubber tubing is being used to simulate human blood vessels. This testing will be the same type of testing that is used to judge student doctors.

The surgical instructions from these doctors will be sent over a commercial Internet connection from Seattle to Key Largo, Fla. Once these commands reach Florida, they will be sent through a wireless buoy that is connected to a submarine-type research pod that will be 60 feet underwater. Inside the pod with Raven will be two NASA astronauts and a NASA flight surgeon.

Mitchell Lum,a research assistant and electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate, feels the most difficult part of these simulation will be the time difference between the surgeons command and the movement of Raven's arm. Mr. Lum thinks the time delay may only up to a second meaning the surgical test procedure may take longer than expected, but Mr. Lum still feels this test should be doable.

The major goal of this testing is not necessarily the successful completion of the surgery, but instead the goal is to show how easily Raven can be dismantled, transported, and then reassembled.

Dr. Mika Sinanan, a professor in the department of surgery at the UW Medical Center, has been working closely with this project, and he feels that Raven can be used for various applications besides battlefield use. Dr. Sinanan believes Raven can be used for any surgery requiring very precise work in small spaces, such as coronary bypass operations or prostate surgery.

Raven, along with two graduate students, will be flying down to Florida this Friday in preparation for its scheduled testing from May 7-18.

NASA will be paying for this testing, but the Defense Department will also help NASA pay for this project.

Read more about Dr.Raven at Yahoo News