That soft magnetic robots enabling you to operate precisely and safely individually. However, because it has magnets, operation with these two tools can be difficult. Now, laboratory researcher STORM from Lees University (West Yorkshire, United Kingdom), has shown success using this robot joint for skull base surgery.

Advances in healthcare technology are enabling increasingly safe and more appropriate interventions. robot as da Vinci one of version they utilize robotic assistance for precision control of straight and rigid instruments. In this line is soft magnetic robots, which can improve surgical outcomes due to its potential to reduce its size to miniature. In addition, they allow secure interaction with the network.

To prevent the magnets from attracting each other, they designed the robot’s tentacle body so that it could only bend in a certain direction.

That soft robots They have a structure similar to that soft tissueso they’re very useful in a lot of situations, like in endoscope application. However, they require actuation space and tube joints, making it difficult to reduce device size without also reducing the independent movement of robot. Now, thanks to the use of remote manipulation, soft magnetic robots they overcome this limitation and can be miniaturized without losing this independent movement.

problem from soft magnetic robots is that the independent control of several of them in the same space is complicated by the unwanted simultaneous movement of these robot and their interactions. This is because, be magneticThat magnets Both can be attracted to each other if they are very close to each other.

In this context, laboratory researchers STORM managed to achieve the joint use of two of them magnetic soft robot for skull base surgery. Thus, the purpose of the investigation is to achieve that a robot holding the camera while the other operates a laser to remove tumor.

In this way, they carried out tests using a skull replica, in which both robot underwent brain surgery endonasala technique in which surgeons access the frontal area of ​​the brain and the upper part of the spine through the nose.

That endonasal brain surgery This is a minimally invasive surgical technique for intervention at the base of the skull. In it, surgical instruments are inserted through the patient’s nostrils, avoiding facial scars and shortening recovery time.

In these trials, researchers tested magnetic robots move independently of each other. To prevent magnets can attract each other, they devise a body of tentacles robot so they can only bend in a certain direction, repositioning the north and south poles within each tentacle.

“Our findings show that diagnostic camera procedures, as well as complete surgical procedures, can be performed in small anatomic spaces.”

Thanks to this, the researchers were able to simulate the deletion of a tumor tame of pituitary at the base of the skull, allowing for the first time to control two robot within a limited area of ​​the body.

“This is an important contribution to the field of controlled robotics magnetically“, he claims Zaneta Koszowskaresearchers from Leeds School of Electrical and Electronic Engineeringwho added that “our findings demonstrate that diagnostic camera procedures, as well as full surgical procedures, can be performed in small anatomical spaces.”