Israeli company Tamar Robotics has developed a robot no bigger than a pen but with all the tools a brain surgeon needs to operate on a patient.

The system has a diameter of 10 mm and is equipped with a camera. Two steerable and flexible robotic arms can hold surgical tools. In addition, the robot is equipped with a kind of extendable scaffold that allows the tools to be precisely navigated in the target area.

This is necessary in order to be able to carry out operations on the brain, such as tumor removal, at all. This is because neurosurgeons move within a narrow working range of around 25 to 50 mm. To get to the brain, they usually have to drill several large holes in the skull to insert cameras, microscopes, and other tools. The deeper they penetrate into the brain to get to the tumor, the higher the risk of damaging healthy brain tissue. This can result in memory disorders, loss of speech and movement, seizures or even death.

The robot from Tamar Robotics should be able to prevent this. All it takes is a single small incision in the skull to get to the brain. Due to the compactness of the system, the corridor through the brain tissue can be significantly reduced. The risk of accidental damage to the brain is reduced. The patient is more likely to recover from the operation. It also helps that all tools are introduced via the same access. The surgical devices do not get in each other's way.

Tamar Robotics initially focuses on brain surgery. In principle, however, the technique can also be used in the field of spinal surgery, for the removal of thyroid and larynx cancer. Lung, bladder and prostate cancer are also areas of application in which a similar system can be used. Tamar Robotics is already working on this.

It will be some time before that happens: the first tests of the device are to be carried out on corpses by the end of 2023, after which studies on humans are to be carried out. Until then, the system is to be further reduced. A diameter of 6 mm is aimed for.

Tamar Robotics isn't the only company developing robots for brain surgery. However, these devices are 50 percent larger with a diameter of 15 mm.

According to heise.de