Robot that watched surgery videos performs with skill of human doctor

DO YOU LEARN BEST BY OBSERVING FIRST? 

IT TURNS OUT … THAT METHOD WORKED FOR A ROBOT TO PERFORM SURGERY TASKS JUST AS WELL AS A HUMAN DOCTOR.

RESEARCHERS AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY TRAINED THE ROBOT TO OPERATE SIMPLY BY HAVING IT WATCH VIDEOS OF REAL SURGEONS. 

THE TEAM USED THE DA VINCI SURGICAL SYSTEM, WHICH IS A ROBOTIC PLATFORM COMBINING IMITATION LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY SIMILAR TO HOW CHAT G-P-T FUNCTIONS. 

BUT INSTEAD OF PROCESSING TEXT – THIS SYSTEM WORKS WITH MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE OF ROBOTIC MOTION. 

THE TEAM TRAINED THE ROBOT TO PERFORM THREE TASKS – USE A NEEDLE, LIFT BODY TISSUE, AND SUTURE. 

IN EACH CASE, THE ROBOT PERFORMED THE SAME SURGICAL PROCEDURES AS SKILLFULLY AS HUMAN DOCTORS – EVEN SURPRISING THE TEAM WITH RESEARCHER AXEL KRIEGER SAYING …

“THE MODEL IS SO GOOD LEARNING THINGS WE HAVEN’T TAUGHT IT. LIKE IF IT DROPS THE NEEDLE, IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY PICK IT UP AND CONTINUE. THIS ISN’T SOMETHING I TAUGHT IT TO DO.” 

THE RESEARCHERS SAY THEY’RE NOW USING IMITATION LEARNING TO TRAIN A ROBOT TO PERFORM A *FULL* SURGERY. 

FOR SAN – I’M JACK AYLMER. 

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