Surgeons Control first Robotic Operation on the ISS from Earth

A miniature robot has suceeded an operation on the International Space Station for the first time - by remote control from Earth. Astronauts are not the only ones to benefit from this technology: Remote surgical operations are intended to improve medical care in regions with a shortage of surgeons.

A miniature surgical robot has just been successfully tested on the International Space Station (ISS). In a two-hour operation with artificial tissue, six doctors controlled the small robot from Earth, with a latency of 0.85 seconds.

On January 30, the "Space Mira« robot was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canevaral for initial remote surgery tests. The aim of the mission is to provide astronauts with professional surgery and medical care on longer space journeys in the future.

Remote Operations Benefit also on Earth

However, healthcare on Earth should also benefit from the space tests. According to inventor Shane Farritor, Professor of Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and CTO of robot manufacturer Virtual Incision, one in three counties in the USA alone lacks a surgeon, and availability has fallen by 29 percent in the last 20 years.

The vision of robot-based remote surgery is to carry out interventions in remote areas, whether in space, on military battlefields or in rural areas where no doctor is available.

Farritor and his team have been working on a version of their robot called MIRA (Miniaturized In vivo Robotic Assistant) suitable for space since 2022 - the device is currently around 1000 times lighter and much smaller than conventional surgical robots.  Transport, storage and implementation of the mini-robot are therefore much easier - remote surgery could therefore be used much more frequently and help a wider range of patients. Space Mira is currently undergoing FDA certification.

Remote Surgery on Artificial Tissue

During the surgical simulation in space, the doctors use artificial tissue with tension to perform a dissection. Six surgeons successfully worked with the robot within two hours. Space Mira mainly consists of a camera and two surgical arms, one for cutting and one for grasping. »The two-handed approach is crucial in surgical procedures, as localized tension is critical to resect and cut in the desired way,« says Shane Farritor.

Overall, the robotic surgeon's transportation cabinet is not much bigger than a microwave, and in addition to the medical and space agency NASA requirements, the Space Mira team also had to test the robot's hardware and software to ensure that it would survive the rocket launch and function in orbit.

Autonomous Robotic Surgeon: Operations even Without Doctors

After Space Mira returns to Earth in the spring, further experiments will be carried out on Earth. Final test results are not expected before 2025. According to Farritor, the technology is not yet ready to carry out remote operations on real people. However, the researcher already considers the space mission a great success: »This is a big step towards demonstrating the technology.«

In future, Space Mira is to be programmed so that the remote robot can perform surgical procedures and operations without human involvement. (uh)