A miniature surgical robot on board International Space Station it was first tested in orbit and simulated surgeries were performed in space while being remotely controlled by surgeons on Earth.
The robot, called SpaceMIRA (short for Miniaturized In Vivo Robotic Assistant), was developed by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The experiments were conducted on simulated tissue on the space station on Saturday. CNN reported first.
This technology could be critical to addressing medical emergencies that may occur during long-duration space flights. Future missions to Mars or beyond. But the robot’s inventors say there are real-world applications in rural communities, military battlefields or other remote areas without adequate health care resources.
Shane Farritor, an engineering professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said, “While space travel is exciting to think about, patients need the care they need. said in the statement shortly after the robot was sent to the International Space Station.
Farritor is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Virtual Incision, a startup aiming to bring a small surgical robot to the commercial market.