Crab Robot Helps Remove Stomach Cancer

redletterdave writes "Singaporean researchers have created a miniature robot with a pincer and a hook that can remove early-stage stomach cancers without leaving any scars. Mounted on an endoscope, it enters the patient's gut through the mouth. It has a pincer to hold cancerous tissues, and a hook that slices them off and coagulates blood to stop bleeding. With the help of a tiny camera attached to the endoscope, the surgeon sees what's inside the gut and controls the robotic arms remotely while sitting in front of a monitor screen. The robot has already helped remove early-stage stomach cancers in five patients in Hong Kong and India, using a fraction of the time normally taken in open and keyhole surgeries that put patients at higher risk of infection and leave behind scars."

Pics or it didn't happen

[Lambeco]

How can you write an article about a cancer-killing crab robot and not include a picture of said robo-crab?

Re:That is not a robot

[oodaloop]

Sorry, I don't think that's entirely accurate. Wikipedia, among others, defines robot as a mechanical agent that be autonomous, semi-autonomous, or remote controlled. We've had bomb disposal robots for years, for instance, that are entirely remote controlled.

Re:That is not a robot

[oodaloop]

Yeah, my only point is we don't yet have enough words in the English language to distinguish among all the various forms of our non-biological overlords, underlings, and peers. The word robot has been co-opted to mean almost any kind of vaguely anthropomorphic mechanism, mechanical "arm", wind-up toy, UAV, artificial voice, Mars rover, Transformer, etc. Android used to be a viable term, but now would be confused with the OS. Droid is right out.