Robot Surgeon Finds Tiny Shrapnel

June 25, 2009 -- A robotic surgeon at Duke University has successfully found and guided a needle to a sliver of steel shrapnel, completely without human help. The technology could reduce the cost and time necessary to complete a biopsy and other surgical operations.

"Eventually you could have a ten-dollar biopsy done inside in a supermarket," said Steve Smith, a doctor at Duke University and co-author of a paper describing the work in the journal IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

"Today that same biopsy would cost about $1,000," said Smith.

Locating a piece of shrapnel is only the latest demonstration of the autonomous robotic surgeon. Over the last two years, the team at Duke, including recent graduate A.J. Rogers, successfully performed two other tasks.

The first was locating a needle with 3-D ultrasound, and then touching that needle with another needle.

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The second successful task for the robot surgeon was to locate, and then biopsy, a tumor inside a turkey breast.

About six months ago, the scientists upgraded their robot. The new robot, with six articulating joints and about the size of a suitcase, was tasked with finding a piece of steel shrapnel two millimeters by less than one millimeter submerged inside a water bath.

The new robot made it easier to find the shrapnel. The size of the shrapnel made it more difficult than the first two tasks; it was so small that it didn't appear on the ultrasound. To make it larger, the Duke scientists used a high-powered magnetic field to vibrate the sliver. All that was left was for the needle to reach out and touch the tiny metal piece.

"We keep giving the robot more and more complex tasks," said Smith. "So far the robot has been able to accomplish these tasks automatically."