Mini crab-like robot fights stomach cancer

Robots are amazing creations, especially tiny ones that allow us to visit places that we would normally have trouble accessing. Some researchers in Singapore have managed to come up with a tiny robot designed to combat stomach cancer. Apparently the creators of the robot were inspired after having a seafood dinner one day. Resembling a tiny crab, the robot features a pincer and a hook; and is mounted on an endoscope which is then fed through a patient’s mouth to reach his/her stomach.

The robot uses its crab-like pincer to grab tissue that can be removed and uses a hook to cut the tissue and cauterize it to stop the bleeding. The operating surgeon uses a camera on the endoscope to see what’s going on and to control the robot accurately. While the crab-like robot has already been in use to successfully remove some early-stage stomach cancer in as many as five patients in India and Hong Kong, it’ll be about another three years before it becomes commercially available.

George Wong
Categories: Medical, Robots
Tags: cancer, singapore