Eye Surgery Using a Robot Was Just Performed for the First Time

Robots are the workforce of the future. This much has become clear as technology has continued to advance. A recent example of just how machines will inevitably take over jobs is the success of the first robotic eye surgery. This was achieved via clinical trials that involved fairly routine operations. Apparently, the results were quite impressive.

This development is courtesy of researchers from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. In the paper that they published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers detail the successful eye surgeries conducted with robots.

The trial involved 12 patients who were then divided into two groups. One group was tended to by human surgeons without the assistance of robots. The other performed the eye surgery by controlling robotic arms via joystick.

Both groups came away with successful results. Granted, considering that the surgeries involved the removal of a membrane from the retina of the patients, they were relatively minor cases. Even so, any operation involving the eyes is a complex matter and actually pulling it off using robots is a major feat.

According to a press release from Oxford, the robots actually made the doctors more effective in some of the operations. This was due to the fact that, as machines, the robots were even less prone to tremors than doctors with the steadiest hands.

Naturally, there were some drawbacks that are worth mentioning. The biggest is the fact that the time it took to perform the surgery was extended threefold. Apparently, this was due to the unfamiliarity that the doctors had in using the robotic arms.

This was to be expected since operating with extended limbs is going to take some getting used to. As technology improves, there may come a time when surgeons are no longer needed to operate.