Your Next Surgeon Might Be A Robot

If you ever need surgery in the future, it may be performed solely by a robot. Researchers just announced that fully automated surgery could be trialed on humans within the next decade. This comes after experts from Johns Hopkins University trained an AI powered robot to successfully perform gallbladder removal surgery on pigs all by itself. And the robot succeeded, not just once, but eight times in a row. Until now, robots have been used as aids in surgery, but only under human control. Full robot autonomy has never been seen or done before. So this is a pretty huge leap forward. The way it works is with a two tier AI. One layer studies the surgical videos and turns them into instructions, and the other translates those instructions into precise 3D tool movements. That's what allows this robot to perform on its own. It can adapt in real time, self correct mistakes and execute complex anatomical work without humans needed. Now, we've heard the reports about how self driving cars are generally more safe than human driven cars if this follows that same trajectory. And this could potentially save a lot of lives and prevent surgical complications. And not just that. If robots can make surgeries more efficient, it could also cut costs and expand access to people in need. That's a pretty exciting future to think about.