Ken Goldberg and robotic system changing laparoscopic surgery
BCNM's Ken Goldberg was featured in an article by Berkeley Engineering. The article discussed Goldberg's work in human-machine collaboration.
From the Berkeley Engineering article.:
"A year ago, for the Berkeley-based Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), Goldberg launched the “People and Robots” initiative (CPAR), partly in response to the much-discussed singularity — the fear that runaway machine intelligence could threaten the human race. Countering with the concept of multiplicity, CPAR brings together diverse groups of robots, humans and algorithms to solve problems efficiently through collaborative learning.
Medical robotics is a leading example of machines collaborating intimately with humans. Since 2000, the da Vinci Surgical System, a robotic device guided by surgeons working from nearby consoles, and made by Sunnyvale-based Intuitive Surgical, has performed three million minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries.
A da Vinci system has two or more articulated arms ending in slender probes. One is mounted with a tiny camera; others wield forceps, needles, cauterizers or other instruments. The surgeon watches high-definition video from the camera while manipulating handles that cause the instruments to reproduce the movement of wrists, hands and fingers."