Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

CardioArm - Snakelike Surgical Robot

The CardioArm snakelike surgical robot is a robot with a very small diameter that can be used by surgeons performing heart operations. CardioArm was developed at Carnegie Mellon University.


(CardioArm Snakelike Surgical Robot)

Using just a single incision, the CardioArm robot can be pushed into the body. The robot consists of many small, jointed segments just 12 millimeters in diameter (see picture above); each joint follows the head through exactly the same points in space.

The CardioArm snakelike robot is operated with a computer and a joystick. The smallest version of the robot is just 12 millimeters in diameter and 300 millimeters in length. Compare the CardioArm with the snake-arm robot from OCRobotics, a robot used for manufacturing.

The CardioArm is also much thinner than the snake-like robots developed for surgery at Johns Hopkins University; see Snake-like Robots For Throat Surgery Doc Ock-Style.

Researchers hope to miniaturize the CardioArm robot until it is small enough to enter the bloodstream through a blood vessel.

"We are working to just have a single port in the body and from that point being able to reach any location," says Marco Zenati, professor of surgery and one of the principle researchers on the CardioArm project. "There is no technology that allows one to do that. The only one is the CardioArm."

The earliest reference to a snakelike robot that I know about is the mining worm from Love Among The Robots, an intriguing 1946 story by Emmet McDowell. This robot moves through the body of the Earth.

"He's taken the mining worm apart - that's what. I knew that he would! ...The worm was strewn all over the floor!"
(Read more about the mining worm)

Via Snakelike Robots for Heart Surgery.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/5/2008)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Medical ")

Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans
'... drugged and chilled and stowed in sleep tanks.' - Robert Heinlein, 1951.

Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans
'We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,' said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi.

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.' - Robert Heinlein, 1956

Brainoware Reservoir Computation Of Biological Neural Networks
'Head cheese. Cultured brains on a slab.' - Peter Watts, 1999.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Nevada Will Use AI To Decide Worker Benefits
'They had screwed up and been blacklisted by Manna.'

Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day
'Alex did not find it surprising that people... were electronically minting their own cash.'

First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk
'I had determined that my first attempt should be a visit to Mars.'

WaPOCHI Micro-Mobility Robot Follows Like A Pet With Your Bags
To follow the user like a pet while carrying their cargo!

Ultra-Realistic Robotic Arowana Robo-Fish
'Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a metal fish.'

GITAI R1 Lunar Rover Like NASA Robonaut Centaur
'...waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'

Meshworm Soft Robot, With Peristaltic Crawling, Is Getting Better
'Seen close it was not completely flexible, but made instead of pivoted and smoothly finished segments.'

Mushroom 'Robot' Is Just A Start
'Some unknown race ... decided to help them out.'

Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany
'...the cars are wedge-shaped at both ends.'

DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access
Amazing tactile display.

Biohybrid Robot Combines Living Muscle With Artificial Materials
'...great rectangular slabs of muscle, slung into a rectangular frame.'

Biohybrid Robots Made Of Living And Synthetic Materials
'If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.'

Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans
'... drugged and chilled and stowed in sleep tanks.'

Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."

AI Note-Taking From Google Meet
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.'

Qore IcePlates Are Personal Cooling Suits
'... underneath they consisted of networks of cooling tubes against the skin.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.