An open-source robo-surgeon

“But the da Vinci is far from perfect. It is immobile and weighs
more than half a tonne, which limits its deployability, and it
costs $1.8m, which puts it beyond the reach of all but the richest
institutions. It also uses proprietary software. Even if
researchers keen to experiment with new robotic technologies and
treatments could afford one, they cannot tinker with da Vinci?s
operating system.

“None of that is true of the Raven. Originally developed for the
American army by Dr Hannaford and Jacob Rosen of the University of
California, Santa Cruz, as a prototype for robotic surgery on the
battlefield, it is compact, light and cheap (relatively speaking)
at around $250,000. More importantly for academics, it is also the
first surgical robot to use open-source software. Its Linux-based
operating system lets anyone modify and improve the original code,
creating a way for researchers to experiment and collaborate.”

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