A pig in Hong Kong recently underwent an endoscopy with a winding – the person operate on the endoscope was sit in a research lab 9,300 kilometers ( 5,779 mi ) away in Zurich , Switzerland .
The collaborative project between researchers at ETH Zurich and The Chinese University of Hong Kong look researchers peer into the stomach of the anesthetized animal from half a world by , all thanks to a superfast net connector and some ingenious machinelike technology .
Using the joystick of a PlayStation controller , doctorial educatee Alexandre Mesot was capable to manipulate the endoscope in Hong Kong while watching the range on a silver screen in the lab in Zurich , with only a 300 - msec delay .
The feat represent an impressive breakthrough in the line of business of telesurgery . The COVID pandemic has highlighted for many what can be reach withtelemedicine , but you ’d presume that for a surgical procedure it ’s helpful to really have the sawbones present . However , the first transatlantic operation convey piazza way back in2001 , and since then citizenry have been trying topush the boundariesof what can be achieved when operating surgeon and patient do n’t have to be in the same room .
late advance have even see scientists on Earthoperating a operative automaton on the International Space Station(ISS ) – but as telling as that was , the ISS was only 400 kilometers ( 250 Swedish mile ) above the lab in ambit . control the probe across distances of over 9,000 kilometer necessitate heedful planning and examination – not to observe a really unchanging connexion . Mid - endoscopy is really not the metre for your broadband to cut out .
In the operating room in Hong Kong , the hog was anesthetized by surgeons , who also inserted the endoscope safely through the lip and into the tummy . It was n’t just any endoscope – this one had been specially developed by the team at ETH Zurich to voyage via a magnetized field .
“ Not only can the endoscope be bent in any focal point thanks to its magnetic caput ; it ’s also lowly and easy to manoeuvre than schematic gimmick , ” said Mesot in astatement .
It ’s so flexible that after taking dominance of the endoscope from Switzerland , Mesot was able-bodied to manipulate it to crouch the headland rearwards by 180 ° , yield a eyeshot of the breadbasket entrance . A petite gripper allowed Mesot to take tissue paper sampling from the stomach wall .
Because the endoscope is smaller than usual while still being so maneuverable , it could potentially be used in human patients via the nozzle rather than the mouth . This is much more comfy for patient role and think they can have lighter sedation , as well as being more size - appropriate for kid .
“ In the next step of our research , we hope to stock out a teleoperated endoscopy on a human stomach , ” tell Professor Bradley Nelson of the Multi - Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich . “ There ’s a mass of potential drop in this engineering science . Here I ’m thinking of minimally invasive procedure in the GI tract , such as Crab screening . ”
Incidentally , the pig ( as far as we ’re aware ) exist the procedure unharmed and likely unaware of just how momentous its good morning had been .
The subject is publish in the journalAdvanced Intelligent Systems .
