| From: | Geoff Skellams <geoff.skellams@*********.COM.AU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Surgeons as Riggers? |
| Date: | Tue, 5 May 1998 16:06:50 +1000 |
wrote:
> >I just heard a report on the radio that in an Australian first, a
> >surgeon has used a robot to perform surgery by remote control. I
didn't
> >catch the whole story, but I think the main surgeon was at a remote
> >site and there was a human surgeon in the operating theatre in case
there
> >was a problem with the robots.
>
To follow this up (I've just heard the story again on subsequent
news bulletins), the operating surgeon was in fact at a remote site. He
was 8km from the hospital where the patient was having her gallbladder
removed. The remote control data was transmitted via a phone line to the
hospital, where is was fed to the robot.
The cost of the operation was about A$1,000,000, although it is
thought this will become a lot cheaper once all of the hardware is in
place. It is thought it could be a viable solution for remote areas,
such as the Australia outback, where residents rely on things like the
Royal Flying Doctor Service, which costs many millions of dollars per
year.
> > This brought me back to an idea I had the other day on the
bus
> >on the way to work. In 205X, could some surgeons be very specialised
> >forms of riggers? Given that at the moment, there is a lot of surgery
> >being done with laproscopes (I had my gall bladder out by laproscope
in
> >'93) and the story relayed above, could a surgeon benefit from a VCR
> >which is hooked to the miniature tools used in surgery?
> >
> >just another thought for a wet afternoon in Canberra
>
> I don't see why not; this sort of stuff would be ideal for those
> operations that were bigger than nanites normally handle and too small
> for drastic invasive stuff (maybe toxin exhalers, filter systems,
stuff
> like that)
>
It could also make sense for "normal" surgery - it could make
certain operations a lot less intrusive than they currently are.
> Of course, there's all sorts of things one could do with this. Given
> the right ID, a rigger could masquerade as a surgeon as a cover
> (infiltration into medical research labs, an alibi with the Star, et
> cetera). A surgeon looking for fun and excitement could start
> moonlighting as a rigger-runner (okay, he's got all the money he could
> want, but what does he do for kicks? Maybe golf doesn't do it for
him).
> Or perhaps, when the runners hit her facility, the Deltaware surgeon
> they're 'extracting' figures "Hell, robots are robots" and starts
> remote-rigging a combat-drone to save her hide.
*That* conjures up some interesting images. Adds new meaning to the term
"surgical strike" :)
cheers
Geoff
--
Geoff Skellams R&D - Tower Software
Email Address: geoff.skellams@*********.com.au
Homepage: http://www.towersoft.com.au/staff/geoff/
ICQ Number: 2815165
"That rates about a 9.5 on my weird-shit-o-meter"
- Will Smith in "Men in Black"
