Research teams in the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology, based at Johns Hopkins University, using advances in robotics and computer technology are building new high-tech medical tools that could someday help doctors treat patients more safely and effectively and allow them to perform surgical tasks that are nearly impossible at present.

Engineers and computer scientists from the said center, in close collaboration with physicians from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are building robotic assistants intended to enhance a surgeon's skills:

• A snakelike robot that could enable surgeons, operating in the narrow throat region, to make incisions and tie sutures with greater dexterity and precision.
• The steady-hand system, may curb a surgeon's natural tremor and allow the doctor to inject drugs into tiny blood vessels in the eye, dissolving clots that can damage vision.

According to Russell H. Taylor, a professor of computer science and director of the center:

"The emphasis is on futuristic technology, but we're not trying to replace or automate surgeons. We want to work in partnership with surgeons to help them do their work more effectively.

Human hands are remarkable, but they have limitations. There are times when it would be useful to have a 'third hand,' and we can provide that. Sometimes a surgeon's fingers are too large to work in a small confined space within the body. We can help by building tools that act like unhumanly small and highly dexterous hands."

Read the full press release from Johns Hopkins.

[In photo: Johns Hopkins medical robotics researchers are testing this steady-hand system that may someday enable surgeons to inject vision-saving drugs into tiny blood vessels in the eye. (Credit: Will Kirk/JHU)]