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Lawsuits: Doctors not trained properly for robot surgery

Last updated Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 4:40pm

NEW YORK — Intuitive Surgical Inc., the maker of robots used in 367,000 U.S. operations last year, is facing accusations in lawsuits that it put patients at risk by marketing the machinery to doctors without providing adequate training.

Company emails introduced in a lawsuit filed against Intuitive in Kitsap County, Wash., suggest salesmen lobbied hospitals to scale back doctor training. One manager’s email lauded a salesman for persuading a hospital that five supervised operations were too many. In another, a manager told a sales team not to “let proctoring or credentialing get in the way” of meeting goals on the number of robot surgeries.

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FILE - Merick Durtschi wheels the Team Implosion robot toward the weigh in area during the FIRST Robotics Utah Regional Competition Thursday, March 15, 2012 at the Maverick Center in West Valley, Utah. Team Implosion is from Woods Cross High School. (NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner)

Student-made robots to battle in SLC

Contributed Standard-Examiner

Last updated Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 11:49am

SALT LAKE CITY – The For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Regional Competition is visiting Salt Lake for the fourth time.

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Various items are seen Thursday, March 7, 2013, through a pair of eyepieces that a doctor would look through while controlling the arms of a surgical robot at Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton. (NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner)

Demo of robotic surgical system blows minds of NUAMES students

Nancy Van Valkenburg Standard-Examiner

Last updated Friday, March 8, 2013 - 7:22am

LAYTON — The teenage scholars from NUAMES knew a thing or two about robots before their Thursday field trip to Davis Hospital and Medical Center.

A course on robotics is taught at their charter school, the Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering & Science, and an after-school club is dedicated to designing and building mini robots for state and regional competitions.

And of course, NUAMES’ team did recently place second in a multistate competition.

But nothing the high school students had seen before could prepare them for their hands-on encounter with two robotic DaVinci Surgical Systems.

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Robot surgical systems (Photo from intuitivesurgical.com ©2013 Intuitive Surgical, Inc.)

New lawsuits, deaths bringing more scrutiny for robot surgery

Robert Langreth Bloomberg News

Last updated Thursday, March 7, 2013 - 2:41pm

After Michelle Zarick complained of excessive vaginal bleeding, her doctor found growths in her uterus that needed to be removed. One option: robot surgery, described by her gynecologist as “the latest, greatest” technique available.

With nimble robotic instruments doing the delicate work usually performed by doctors hands-on, there would be less pain and bleeding, she was told.

“In my mind, there was no alternative but to use this fabulous technology,” she recalls thinking.

Five weeks later, she wished she hadn’t. That’s when Zarick felt something pop while she was in the bathroom, looked down and saw her intestine protruding from her vagina. Now, four years later, the 41-year-old Zarick has a hip-to-hip scar from corrective surgery, constipation from damaged rectal muscles and a diminished sex life, she said in an interview.

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Top of Utah students ages 9 to 14 gather at Weber State University in Ogden on Saturday for the Utah FIRST Lego League Qualifier. Teams picked fun names — like the Ninja Robot Geeks, the Robot Chickens, and the Lion Bytes — and wore silly outfits while accomplishing various tasks with their robots. They also worked on projects to help the elderly face daily challenges using innovative technology. (CAMERON MCLEOD/Special to the Standard-Examiner)

Kids dress silly for robotics battle, helping elderly

Nancy Van Valkenburg Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, January 6, 2013 - 8:46am

OGDEN — An even 200 Utah school kids came to Weber State University on Saturday to do robotic battle at the Utah FIRST Lego League Qualifier.

The children, ages 9 to 14, wore team T-shirts emblazed with fear-inspiring names like the Ninja Robot Geeks, the Centerville Cyborgs, the Lion Bytes, the Robot Chickens and the Avengers of the Aged.

As high-energy songs, including “Kung Fu Fighting,” blasted through the Shepherd Union ballrooms, the 20 teams faced off, guided by referees in silly hats. Each team ran the Lego robot it designed through a course with more than a dozen possible tasks to be accomplished within a short time span.

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Paint-removing robots to deploy at Hill AFB

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, November 26, 2012 - 2:02pm

PITTSBURGH — A new research project aims to design robots that can do the slow, messy, and costly job of removing old paint.

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There's a robot to help you shop

Sanjena Sathian Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Last updated Friday, August 10, 2012 - 3:55pm

Priya Narasimhan has a vision: a robot helping shoppers find everything on their shopping list in grocery and other stores.

Walking through the Carnegie Mellon University campus bookstore on a recent day, she was accompanied by just that -- a 3 1/2-foot robot resembling R2D2.

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EMILY is actually an acronym for Emergency Integrated Life Saving Lanyard, as the boat was originally developed to help lifeguards quickly get to a swimmer in trouble. Now, EMILY will be used as a hurricane scout craft that can stay out up to 10 days. She is a 5 feet long, 150-pound vessel, powered by a small engine with less than 2 horsepower and is equipped with a 10-gallon fuel tank. Emily is equipped with a high-definition camera, and can be remote-controlled from shore or pre-programmed to aim for a specific destination. Although the NOAA purchased 10 of the EMILY models for $30,000 apiece, it plans to use only two or three for hurricane research, and the rest will monitor marine sanctuaries and habitats and map coral reefs.

Robot boats ready to sail into tropical storms to improve forecasts

Ken Kaye Sun Sentinel

Last updated Monday, June 25, 2012 - 10:16am

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - They don’t look much like boats, or robots for that matter. Yet a small fleet of crewless watercraft are to be sent right into the paths of tropical storms for the first time this year with an important mission: Collect valuable ocean and atmospheric data that should improve hurricane forecasts.

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In this undated photo provided by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, a previously paralyzed rat in a special harness walks voluntarily after several weeks of rehabilitation in a laboratory in Switzerland. In the new experiment reported in the Friday, June 1, 2012 issue of the journal Science, researchers led by Gregoire Courtine, of the University of Zurich and the technical university EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, stimulated spinal nerve circuits and used physical training. The stimulation was electrical current from implanted electrodes plus injections of a chemical mix, helping the rodents overcome paralysis to walk and climb stairs. (AP Photo/Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)

Robotic rehab helps paralyzed rats walk again

Greg Miller ScienceNOW

Last updated Friday, June 1, 2012 - 10:39am

By employing a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation, and robot-assisted rehabilitation, researchers have restored a remarkable degree of voluntary movement in rats paralyzed by a spinal cord injury. After several weeks of treatment, the rodents were able to walk - with some assistance - to retrieve a piece of food, even going up stairs or climbing over a small barrier to get it. The rats' recovery raises hopes that a similar combination strategy could help restore movement in some people with spinal injuries. Indeed, such efforts are already underway.

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In this April 18, 2012, photo, Carnegie Mellon University professor Howie Choset, right, stands beside a robot as staff researcher Florinan Enner uses a controller to demonstrate how it climbs up a tubular armature at their lab on campus in Pittsburgh. Scientists and doctors are using the creeping metallic tools to perform surgery on hearts, prostate cancer and other diseased organs. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Are tiny robot surgeons the wave of the future?

Kevin Begos The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, May 29, 2012 - 9:40am

PITTSBURGH -- Imagine a tiny snake robot crawling through your body, helping a surgeon identify diseases and perform operations.

It's not science fiction. Scientists and doctors are using the creeping metallic tools to perform surgery on hearts, prostate cancer, and other diseased organs. The snakebots carry tiny cameras, scissors and forceps, and even more advanced sensors are in the works. For now, they're powered by tethers that humans control. But experts say the day is coming when some robots will roam the body on their own.

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Brittany Brunner (left) and team mentor Eric Tolman work on the Team Implosion robot for the FIRST Robotics Utah Regional Competition on Thursday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. Team Implosion is from Woods Cross High School. (NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner)

Woods Cross High team calculating how to win robotics contest

Dana Rimington Standard-Examiner

Last updated Friday, March 16, 2012 - 6:11am

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Woods Cross High School robotics team members were all set to rumble with their robot Thursday morning when they arrived at the Maverik Center for the FIRST Robotics Utah Regional Competition.

Also participating in the event, scheduled through Saturday, are 43 other teams from nine states.

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NASA budget cuts could be felt on Mars

Amina Khan Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 11:59am

Lean financial times are prompting belt-tightening far and wide -- and now that extends to Mars and the rest of the solar system.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for fiscal year 2013 would eliminate $300 million from the agency's planetary sciences division, a 20 percent cut from the $1.5 billion it received for 2012. Though the budget plan, released last week, would preserve funding for high-profile projects like the James Webb Space Telescope and manned space missions, scientists were alarmed by the hit to relatively inexpensive programs that explore the solar system with high-tech robots.

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In this Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 image made from video provided by NASA, commander of the International Space Station, Daniel Burbank, shakes hands with Robonaut aboard the station in orbit around the earth. It's the first handshake ever between a human and a humanoid in space. NASA's Robonaut was launched aboard space shuttle Discovery last February. Crews have been testing it to see how it one day might help astronauts perform space station chores. (AP Photo/NASA)

Astronaut and robot shake hands in space

Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 4:21pm

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts and robots have united in space with a healthy handshake.

The commander of the International Space Station, Daniel Burbank, shook hands Wednesday with Robonaut. It's the first handshake ever between a human and a humanoid in space.

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