Autonomous robotic needle can maneuver through living tissue

For the first time ever, a team of scientists and medical professionals from UNC-Chapel Hill has demonstrated a robotic steerable needle that can autonomously move through living tissue to reach a goal while avoiding anatomical barriers. This is according to a press release by the institution published on Thursday.

Typically teleoperated

“Commercial medical robots sold today are typically teleoperated, meaning a human is always directly controlling every motion,” said Ron Alterovitz, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ computer science department and the project’s principal investigator. 

“By leveraging the power of robotics and AI, we developed a robot capable of autonomously steering needles to targets in living tissue with unprecedented accuracy and safety.” 

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