This procedure, which concerns every year 20 million people, is necessary when the lens of the eye's natural lens, with age gradually loses transparency. The surgery involves the practice of a circular opening in the anterior part of the lens, in which is inserted an artificial lens. It is a routine operation which generally has a good outcome, but that requires a steady hand to avoid adversely affecting the posterior part of the lens, one of the most frequent complications.
HOW IT'S DONE. Axsis, the robotic system developed by the technology giant Cambridge Consultants, consists of two small shears able to operate in a space of 10mm - the size of the lens - with a precision not possible in a human hand. Tools of the trade, which in the final version will be replaced by scalpels, are mounted on robotic arms the size of a can, with "tendons" ultra flexible and strong together, the same material of the solar sail at NASA.
THE HELM. To move the robot, the surgeon sits in front of a screen with a joystick haptic (an interface that lets you manage your arm and receive tactile sensations in response): from this location can magnify the image and avoid the most common errors, as the back of the lens injury.
NOT ONLY EYES. Compared to other robots already operating surgeons, which provide long and cumbersome telescopic instruments, Axsis would smaller and would be the first to speak about cataracts (other remote controlled robots are now being used for the operations of the retina). And although some eye doctors do not see the need - for example with respect to the laser surgery - in the future it could be adopted for other operations of microsurgery, such as the stomach and intestines.
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