What do laparoscopic surgery and robotic lunar construction have in common? Plenty, as it turns out, for Shuai Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering.
Li and the lead investigator on the project, the University of Tennessee’s Jindong Tan, Ph.D., are working to create technology that could improve surgical outcomes while paving the way for more efficient and safer remote construction—by mimicking the human eye.
Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, Li and his team have developed a soft, magnetically driven, AI-powered, nature-inspired robotic device that operates much like the human eye — blinking, using tears to clean away contaminants and automatically moving around to get the best view.
The robotic eye moves independently along the inside of the abdominal wall, allowing the surgeon to focus on the surgical procedure at hand. In traditional laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon operates the camera, cleaning it when necessary, as well as the surgical tools.
Read more about A Clear Vision: Researchers Develop Robotic Surgical Cameras That Mimic the Human Eye.
