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class="center force"> <div class="kicker-position-reference"> <div class="kicker"><span class="highlight">Machine learning</span></div> </div> <h1 class="headline"><span class="highlight"><span itemprop="headline"> Robot that watched surgery videos performs with skill of human doctor </span></span></h1> <h2 class="subheadline">Breakthrough training system utilizing imitation learning opens 'new frontier' in medical robotics</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="center force"> <div itemprop="articleBody" class="body-copy column force"> <div class="byline"> <p> <span class="visuallyhidden">By</span> <span class="author" itemprop="author">Jill Rosen</span> </p> <span class="sep" aria-hidden="true">/</span> <span class="visuallyhidden">Published</span> <meta itemprop="datePublished dateCreated" content="2024-11-11" /> <span class="publish-date convert-pubdate" data-timestamp="1731322800"> Nov 11, 2024 </span> </div> <div class="media-inquiries-container closed"> <button class="button x-small gtm-media-inquiries"> <i class="fa fa-angle-down" aria-hidden="true"></i> Media Inquiries </button> <div class="media-inquiries force"> <dl aria-label="Primary contact" class="column"> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Name</dt><dd class="name">Jill Rosen</dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Email</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-envelope-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:jrosen@jhu.edu">jrosen@jhu.edu</a></dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Office phone</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-phone" aria-hidden="true"></i>443-997-9906</dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Cell phone</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-mobile" aria-hidden="true"></i>443-547-8805</dd> </dl> </div> </div> <p>A robot, trained for the first time by watching videos of seasoned surgeons, executed the same surgical procedures as skillfully as the human doctors.</p> <p>The successful use of imitation learning to train surgical robots eliminates the need to program robots with each individual move required during a medical procedure and brings the field of robotic surgery closer to true autonomy, where robots could perform complex surgeries without human help.</p> <p><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12998">The findings</a>, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers, are being spotlighted this week at the <a href="https://www.corl.org/">Conference on Robot Learning</a> in Munich, a top event for robotics and machine learning.</p> <p>"It's really magical to have this model and all we do is feed it camera input and it can predict the robotic movements needed for surgery," said senior author <a href="https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/axel-krieger/">Axel Krieger</a>, an assistant professor in JHU's <a href="https://me.jhu.edu/">Department of Mechanical Engineering</a>. "We believe this marks a significant step forward toward a new frontier in medical robotics."</p> <div class="video align-center size-xlarge inline column force" role="region" aria-label="YouTube video"><div class="set-video-width column"><div class="set-video-height"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c1E170Xr6BM?rel=0&autohide=1&modestbranding=1&wmode=transparent" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div><div class="caption column "><p class="credit">Video <span class="visuallyhidden">credit</span>: Johns Hopkins University</p></div></div> <p>The team, which included Stanford University researchers, used imitation learning to train the da Vinci Surgical System robot to perform three fundamental tasks required in surgical procedures: manipulating a needle, lifting body tissue, and suturing. In each case, the robot trained on the team's model performed the same surgical procedures as skillfully as human doctors.</p> <p>The model combined imitation learning with the same machine learning architecture that underpins ChatGPT. However, where ChatGPT works with words and text, this model speaks "robot" with kinematics, a language that breaks down the angles of robotic motion into math.</p> <p>The researchers fed their model hundreds of videos recorded from wrist cameras placed on the arms of da Vinci robots during surgical procedures. These videos, recorded by surgeons all over the world, are used for post-operative analysis and then archived. Nearly 7,000 da Vinci robots are used worldwide, and more than 50,000 surgeons are trained on the system, creating a large archive of data for robots to "imitate."</p> <p>While the da Vinci system is widely used, researchers say it's notoriously imprecise. But the team found a way to make the flawed input work. The key was training the model to perform relative movements rather than absolute actions, which are inaccurate.</p> <p>"All we need is image input and then this AI system finds the right action," said lead author Ji Woong "Brian" Kim, a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins. "We find that even with a few hundred demos, the model is able to learn the procedure and generalize new environments it hasn't encountered."</p> <div class="pullquote inline align-left light-blue"> "We believe this marks a significant step forward toward a new frontier in medical robotics." <div class="cite">Axel Krieger</div><div class="role">Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering</div></div> <p>Added Krieger: "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 do."</p> <p>The model could be used to quickly train a robot to perform any type of surgical procedure, the researchers said. The team is now using imitation learning to train a robot to perform not just small surgical tasks but a full surgery.</p> <p>Before this advancement, programming a robot to perform even a simple aspect of a surgery required hand-coding every step. Someone might spend a decade trying to model suturing, Krieger said. And that's suturing for just one type of surgery.</p> <p>"It's very limiting," Krieger said. "What is new here is we only have to collect imitation learning of different procedures, and we can train a robot to learn it in a couple days. It allows us to accelerate to the goal of autonomy while reducing medical errors and achieving more accurate surgery."</p> <p>Authors from Johns Hopkins include PhD student Samuel Schmidgall; Associate Research Engineer Anton Deguet; and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Marin Kobilarov. Stanford University authors are PhD student Tony Z. Zhao and Assistant Professor Chelsea Finn.</p> <div class="taxonomy"> <p>Posted in <a href='/science-technology/'>Science+Technology</a></p> <p>Tagged <a href='/tags/robotics/articles/'>robotics</a>, <a href='/tags/surgery/articles/'>surgery</a>, <a href='/tags/artificial-intelligence/articles/'>artificial intelligence</a>, <a href='/tags/machine-learning/articles/'>machine learning</a></p> </div> </div> <div role="complementary" aria-label="Sidebar" class="minimal sidebar fixable column"> <div class="social section force" data-view="social"> <div class="share-icon twitter"> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhub.jhu.edu%2F2024%2F11%2F11%2Fsurgery-robots-trained-with-videos%2F&text=Robot%20that%20watched%20surgery%20videos%20performs%20with%20skill%20of%20human%20doctor&via=HubJHU&related=JohnsHopkins" target="_blank" class="gtm-social-share" data-type="Twitter"> <i class="fa-brands fa-fw fa-x-twitter"></i> <span class="visuallyhidden">Share on X</span> </a> 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finds stimulating people's brains with gentle electric currents can boost learning","teaser_kicker":"Robotics","article_kicker":"Robotics","body":"<p>People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real setting much more easily than people who didn't receive those nudges, a new study shows.<\/p>\n\n<p>The findings offer the first glimpse of how stimulating a specific part of the brain called the cerebellum could help health care professionals take what they learn in virtual reality to real operating rooms, a much-needed transition in a field that increasingly relies on digital simulation training, said author and Johns Hopkins University roboticist <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/jeremy-brown\/\">Jeremy D. Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"Training in virtual reality is not the same as training in a real setting, and we've shown with previous research that it can be difficult to transfer a skill learned in a simulation into the real world,\" said Brown, the John C. Malone Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. \"It's very hard to claim statistical exactness, but we concluded people in the study were able to transfer skills from virtual reality to the real world much more easily when they had this stimulation.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>The work appears today in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/srep\/\">Nature Scientific Reports<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"video align-center size-xlarge inline column force\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"YouTube video\"><div class=\"set-video-width column\"><div class=\"set-video-height\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0HbIyHKbkgI?rel=0&autohide=1&modestbranding=1&wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><div class=\"caption column \"><p class=\"credit\">Video <span class=\"visuallyhidden\">credit<\/span>: Johns Hopkins University<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Participants drove a surgical needle through three small holes, first in a virtual simulation and then in a real scenario using the da Vinci Research Kit, an open-source research robot. The exercises mimicked moves needed during surgical procedures on organs in the belly, the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n<p>Participants received a subtle flow of electricity through electrodes or small pads placed on their scalps meant to stimulate their brain's cerebellum. While half the group received steady flows of electricity during the entire test, the rest of the participants received a brief stimulation only at the beginning and nothing at all for the rest of the tests.<\/p>\n\n<p>People who received the steady currents showed a notable boost in dexterity. None of them had prior training in surgery or robotics.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"The group that didn't receive stimulation struggled a bit more to apply the skills they learned in virtual reality to the actual robot, especially the most complex moves involving quick motions,\" said Guido Caccianiga, a former Johns Hopkins roboticist, now at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, who designed and led the experiments. \"The groups that received brain stimulation were better at those tasks.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Noninvasive brain stimulation is a way to influence certain parts of the brain from outside the body, and scientists have shown how it can benefit motor learning in rehabilitation therapy, the researchers said. With their work, the team is taking the research to a new level by testing how stimulating the brain can help surgeons gain skills they might need in real-world situations, said co-author Gabriela Cantarero, a former assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"It was really cool that we were actually able to influence behavior using this setup, where we could really quantify every little aspect of people's movements, deviations, and errors,\" Cantarero said.<\/p>\n\n<p>Robotic surgery systems provide significant benefits for clinicians by enhancing human skill. They can help surgeons minimize hand tremors and perform fine and precise tasks with enhanced vision.<\/p>\n\n<p>Besides influencing how surgeons of the future might learn new skills, this type of brain stimulation also offers promise for skill acquisition in other industries that rely on virtual reality training, particularly work in robotics.<\/p>\n\n<p>Even outside of virtual reality, the stimulation can also likely help people learn more generally, the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"What if we could show that with brain stimulation you can learn new skills in half the time?\" Caccianiga said. \"That's a huge margin on the costs because you'd be training people faster; you could save a lot of resources to train more surgeons or engineers who will deal with these technologies frequently in the future.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Other authors include Ronan A. Mooney of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Pablo A. Celnik of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.<\/p>\n","excerpt":"Gentle electric currents help people learn to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and real settings","long_excerpt":"People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real setting much more easily than people who didn\u2019t receive those nudges, a new study shows","author":"Roberto Molar Candanosa","source":null,"publication":null,"publication_content":null,"at_work_article":false,"video":[],"video_legacy":[],"media_inquiries":{"contacts":[{"_links":{"self":{"href":"\/people\/50366"}},"id":50366,"type":"media_rep","first_name":"Roberto ","last_name":"Molar 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laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand of a human—a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans. Designed by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/scirobotics.abj2908\">the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot, or STAR, is described today in <em>Science Robotics<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"Our findings show that we can automate one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in surgery: the reconnection of two ends of an intestine. The STAR performed the procedure in four animals and it produced significantly better results than humans performing the same procedure,\" said senior author <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/axel-krieger\/\">Axel Krieger<\/a>, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering.<\/p>\n\n<p>The robot excelled at intestinal anastomosis, a procedure that requires a high level of repetitive motion and precision. Connecting two ends of an intestine is arguably the most challenging step in gastrointestinal surgery, requiring a surgeon to suture with high accuracy and consistency. Even the slightest hand tremor or misplaced stitch can result in a leak that could have catastrophic complications for the patient.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"pullquote inline align-left light-blue\">\n\n \"The STAR performed the procedure in four animals and it produced significantly better results than humans performing the same procedure.\"\n\n <div class=\"cite\">Axel Krieger<\/div><div class=\"role\">Assistant professor of mechanical engineering<\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Working with collaborators at the Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. and <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/jin-u-kang\/\">Jin Kang<\/a>, a Johns Hopkins professor of electrical and computer engineering, Krieger helped create the robot, a vision-guided system designed specifically to suture soft tissue. Their current iteration advances a <a href=\"https:\/\/hub.jhu.edu\/2016\/05\/06\/robot-soft-tissue-surgery\/\">2016 model that repaired a pig's intestines accurately<\/a>, but required a large incision to access the intestine and more guidance from humans.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team equipped the STAR with new features for enhanced autonomy and improved surgical precision, including specialized suturing tools and state-of-the art imaging systems that provide more accurate visualizations of the surgical field.<\/p>\n\n<p>Soft-tissue surgery is especially hard for robots because of its unpredictability, forcing them to be able to adapt quickly to handle unexpected obstacles, Krieger said. The STAR has a novel control system that can adjust the surgical plan in real time, just as a human surgeon would.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"What makes the STAR special is that it is the first robotic system to plan, adapt, and execute a surgical plan in soft tissue with minimal human intervention,\" said first author Hamed Saeidi, a visiting research scientist of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering.<\/p>\n\n<p>A structural light–based three-dimensional endoscope and machine learning–based tracking algorithm developed by Kang and his students guides STAR. \"We believe an advanced three-dimensional machine vision system is essential in making intelligent surgical robots smarter and safer,\" Kang said.<\/p>\n\n<p>As the medical field moves towards more laparoscopic approaches for surgeries, it will be important to have an automated robotic system designed for such procedures to assist, Krieger said.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"Robotic anastomosis is one way to ensure that surgical tasks that require high precision and repeatability can be performed with more accuracy and precision in every patient independent of surgeon skill,\" Krieger said. \"We hypothesize that this will result in a democratized surgical approach to patient care with more predictable and consistent patient outcomes.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>The team from Johns Hopkins also included Justin D. Opfermann, Michael Kam, Shuwen Wei, and Simon Leonard. Michael H. Hsieh, director of Transitional Urology at Children's National Hospital, also contributed to the research.<\/p>\n","excerpt":"In four experiments on pig tissues, the robot excelled at suturing two ends of intestine—one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in abdominal surgery","long_excerpt":"In four experiments on pig tissues, the robot excelled at suturing two ends of intestine—one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in abdominal surgery","author":"Catherine Graham","source":null,"publication":null,"publication_content":null,"at_work_article":false,"video":[],"video_legacy":[],"media_inquiries":null,"_embedded":{"campaigns":null,"departments":null,"divisions":[{"_links":{"self":{"href":"\/divisions\/42"}},"id":42,"name":"School of 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the head and neck is a challenge for even the most experienced surgeons. When removing cancerous tissue, the aim is to preserve as much healthy tissue as possible to prevent unnecessary losses to the patient; however, removing too little tissue risks leaving behind cancer cells that may return or even spread. Factored into this delicate equation are inherent mental and physical obstacles like fatigue, burnout, and visual obstruction, which the steadiest of hands and the best of intentions cannot always overcome.<\/p>\n\n<p>Enter ASTR: the Autonomous System for Tumor Resection. Designed by a team of Johns Hopkins researchers to overcome those human factors, ASTR can remove tumors from the tongue with accuracy rivaling—or even potentially exceeding—that of human surgeons.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team's research appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/abstract\/document\/10354422\"><em>Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotic and Automation Letters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"image inline align-center size-large image-landscape column enlarge has-caption\" data-id=\"42259\"><div class=\"image-container\"><img\n src=\"https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/full_width\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg\"\n alt=\"Diagram detailing the different parts of ASTR, including the electrosurgical instrument, the vacuum grasping instrument, and the tongue base clamp\"\n srcset=\"https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/hub_medium\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 420w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_630\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 630w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/full_width\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 825w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_1030\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/hub_large\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_1300\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/hub_xlarge\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_1600\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_1800\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 1800w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_2000\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_2400\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 2400w, https:\/\/api.hub.jhu.edu\/factory\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/soft_crop_2880\/public\/2024-03\/ASTR%20_0.jpg 2880w\"\n sizes=\"(min-width: 1680px) 948px, (min-width: 1280px) 702px, (min-width: 1024px) 624px, (min-width: 863px) 500px, (min-width: 768px) 567px, (min-width: 640px) 506px, (min-width: 412px) 422px, (min-width: 375px) 307px, 279px\"\n \/><\/div><div class=\"caption\"><p><span class=\"visuallyhidden\">Image caption:<\/span> Images of the (b) monopolar electrosurgical instrument, (c) vacuum grasping instrument, d) dual-camera vision system, sample holder, grounding pad, smoke evacuation tube, linear motion stage, and (e) simulated clinical setting featuring a porcine tongue specimen stretched using retraction sutures. The close views during the (f) surface incision, and (g) deep margin dissection for a pseudotumor on a porcine tongue tissue.\n<\/p><p class=\"credit\">Image <span class=\"visuallyhidden\">credit<\/span>: Whiting School of Engineering<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>\"Doing a resection that has precise margins is a super difficult task,\" said team leader <a href=\"https:\/\/me.jhu.edu\/faculty\/axel-krieger\/\">Axel Krieger<\/a>, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering. \"So much of these surgeries is hope and even some guessing. A lot of surgeons struggle with it. Our goal was to make these procedures more precise.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Precise in this case is 5mm of healthy tissue—the standard surgeons aim for when removing cancerous tissue. That 5mm—about the size of an eraser at the end of a pencil—is enough to ensure that the affected cells are included while keeping the overall damage minimal. Complicating things is the fact that cancerous tumors can often present as having visible horizontal borders on the edges, but less obvious vertical borders.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"The problem we heard from many of the surgeons we collaborate with is that it's so hard to resection a tumor precisely,\" Krieger said. \"Surgeons bring a little ruler in and see the 5mm distance and mark off the edges on the sides. But how deep to go—that's so difficult.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Doctoral student and team member Jiawei Ge said that even though pre-surgery preparation is painstakingly thorough, that crucial 5mm border acts as a blind zone.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"The challenge is that surgeons do not have direct access to the tumor, due to surrounding tissue,\" Ge said. \"They can see the surface of the tumor, but otherwise can only see the healthy tissue. The map is in the surgeon's mind.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>ASTR works by translating human guidance into robotic precision. Using porcine tongue tissue, the team drew outlines of tumors based on empirical research and programmed ASTR to remove the tumor and exactly 5mm of healthy tissue using its combination of vacuum grasping and cutting. ASTR succeeded each time and did not require stoppage by the supervisors.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"The physician can supervise the robot and give pre-surgery inputs, then the robot does it step by step,\" Krieger said. \"What we showed is that surgeons can get very good horizontal margins with the ruler, but on the depth margins our robot really shows improvement.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Krieger and his team based their new robotic system on technology they developed for their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), which made international news two years ago for performing the first fully autonomous laparoscopic surgery: <a href=\"https:\/\/hub.jhu.edu\/2022\/01\/26\/star-robot-performs-intestinal-surgery\/\">a procedure to connect two ends of an intestine<\/a>. The researchers adapted STAR's technical workings to create ASTR's new, autonomous, dual-arm, vision-guided robotic system. But while STAR focused on connecting tissue, ASTR is specifically tailored to remove it.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"We've sent the robot to make an incision before, but this is the first time we've done a bulk resection and taken a tumor out fully,\" Krieger said. \"That's the big novelty here.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Tumors of the tongue, the removal of which is called a partial glossectomy, presented what Krieger called an ideal case due to their surface accessibility and current use in experimental surgery. Cancer of the tongue, while rare, has stricken celebrities Michael Douglas and Eddie Van Halen. In the latter case, initial surgeries were unsuccessful and required further resection, but the ensuing metastasis claimed the musician's life.<\/p>\n\n<p>Krieger said that the next step is internal organs like the kidney, which require internal surgery and dissection to access the tumor. Pairing ASTR's precision surgery with precision imaging could be the ultimate game-changer in tumor resection treatment.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"They use robots a lot already in clinical practice, so this isn't a huge paradigm shift,\" Krieger said.<\/p>\n","excerpt":"A team of Johns Hopkins researchers designed a device that can successfully remove tumors from the tongue with accuracy rivaling human surgeons","long_excerpt":"A robotic surgeon designed by a team of Johns Hopkins researchers can successfully remove tumors from the tongue with accuracy rivaling human surgeons. Called the Autonomous System for Tumor Resection, the robot makes resectioning tissue with precise margins a much easier task.","author":"Jonathan Deutschman","source":null,"publication":null,"publication_content":null,"at_work_article":false,"video":[],"video_legacy":[],"media_inquiries":null,"_embedded":{"campaigns":null,"departments":null,"divisions":[{"_links":{"self":{"href":"\/divisions\/42"}},"id":42,"name":"School of Engineering","slug":"school-engineering","type":"division","weight":0,"_embedded":{"image_thumbnail":null},"url":{"articles":"https:\/\/hub.jhu.edu\/divisions\/school-engineering\/articles\/","events":"https:\/\/hub.jhu.edu\/divisions\/school-engineering\/events\/"}}],"issues":null,"linked_assets":null,"people":null,"tags":[{"_links":{"self":{"href":"\/tags\/41"}},"id":41,"name":"mechanical 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of autonomous robotic surgery closer every day, according to a panel of Johns Hopkins University robotics experts.<\/p>\n\n<p>In a recent virtual briefing for journalists, <a href=\"https:\/\/hub.jhu.edu\/media\/what-every-reporter-should-know-about-ai\/\">\"What Every Reporter Should Know About AI: The Latest in Robotic Surgery,\"<\/a> researchers from the <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/\">Whiting School of Engineering<\/a> explored the fast-changing field of robotic surgery, exploring in particular how AI is being used to enhance robotic capabilities. The session launched a new monthly series on AI organized by the university's Office of Communications.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"video align-center size-xlarge inline column force\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"YouTube video\"><div class=\"set-video-width column\"><div class=\"set-video-height\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QCGG5rhYO1I?rel=0&autohide=1&modestbranding=1&wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><div class=\"caption column \"><p class=\"credit\">Video <span class=\"visuallyhidden\">credit<\/span>: Johns Hopkins University<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<h3>Here are highlights from the panel:<\/h3>\n\n<p>Medical robotics pioneer <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/russell-taylor\/\"><strong>Russell Taylor<\/strong><\/a>, a professor of computer science:<\/p>\n\n<p>\"When we're dealing with surgical robots, we really are dealing with complementary capabilities,\" he said. \"We have some common capabilities, but machines are good at things that we are maybe less good at, and the other way around. What we want our partnership to achieve is the best of both worlds.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Taylor said the current paradigm in research is for physicians to use their expertise to inform the robot about the surgical plan, and then have the robot perform it precisely while following safety protocols.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"It's like power steering in a car,\" Taylor said. \"The (human) surgeon and the robot both have the tool, but the robot is following the hand of the human.\"<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/axel-krieger\/\"><strong>Axel Krieger<\/strong><\/a>, a medical roboticist and associate professor of mechanical engineering, said autonomous robots could fill a critical role: a shortage of surgeons:<\/p>\n\n<p>\"We have fewer surgeons available,\" he said. \"We also have an aging, growing society, and the caseload is projected to rise more than twofold in the next 10 years. So we really need more assistance to keep up with that rising caseload.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Krieger said robotic surgery is becoming more autonomous as the technology advances.<\/p>\n\n<p>\"Physicians would take a more advisory role (in the future) and could intervene or take control if needed,\" he said. \"The goal is to reduce complications, democratize access to everyone for expert surgery, and alleviate that shortage of trained surgeons.\"<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/mathias-unberath\/\"><strong>Mathias Unberath<\/strong><\/a>, an associate professor of computer science:<\/p>\n\n<p>\"The introduction of autonomous technology will result in changes that will affect pretty much everybody in the health care spectrum,\" he said. \"It's not simply about how we can build and enable the technology that is autonomous and can achieve and perform at the level that we need in order to make patients healthier. We also need to think about how the introduction of this type of technology changes the overall ecosystem that is health care.\"<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/jeremy-brown\/\"><strong>Jeremy Brown<\/strong><\/a>, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering who focuses on improving surgical expertise through robotics, explained the critical role of haptic feedback—the sense of touch and force sensation provided to the users of robotic systems:<\/p>\n\n<p>\"Moving the surgeon away from the patient has actually decreased the level of touch that they feel,\" he said. \"There's sort of been this unified argument that we need to start including haptic feedback in robotic surgery, and it is starting to be the case that the robotic manufacturers are listening.\"<\/p>\n\n<p>Brown referred to Taylor's car analogy and made one of his own, saying, \"We didn't jump from manual transmissions in our cars to robotaxis. Just like a surgical resident learns to do surgery, AI does as well.\"<\/p>\n","excerpt":"Johns Hopkins briefing explores the evolving role of robotics and artificial intelligence in surgery","long_excerpt":"Johns Hopkins briefing explores the evolving role of robotics and artificial intelligence in surgery","author":"Jonathan Deutschman","source":null,"publication":null,"publication_content":null,"at_work_article":false,"video":[],"video_legacy":[],"media_inquiries":null,"_embedded":{"campaigns":null,"departments":null,"divisions":[{"_links":{"self":{"href":"\/divisions\/42"}},"id":42,"name":"School of 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