not sure why you're getting downvoted... you're not speaking with the intent to insult pathologists, you're just stating your experience. You're getting downvoted by people who are actually potentially insecure about the effect of AI on their profession. It's a touchy subject for sure. AI is not going to suddenly replace pathologists but an AI platform might enable 1 pathologist to do the work of 5.

This new system lets surgeons practice VR using an Oculus headset, which is way cheaper than an entire da Vinci console.

Not a substitute for real surgical proctoring, but makes a huge difference early in the learning curve.

Intuitive wants more surgeons to use their machines but doesn't do any real competence based training to make sure their devices are used properly - they put all that burden on hospitals so the company can't be sued for improper use or inadequate credentialing.

This is a great point and a considerable advantage over older robot systems. The older robot systems require you to use the actual operating console that's used in the OR to use their virtual reality training modules. That means you either do your VR training in the OR, or the hospital needs to purchase a separate robot console strictly for training.

This new system lets folks train using an Oculus, which is probably 1/1000th of the cost Intuitive charges for a standalone VR simulator.

This is not necessarily true. This new robot is modular while the older models have all instruments and camera coming from one giant unit.

It also has an open console as in the surgeon controlling the robot arms can still directly look at the patient without having to completely give up control or visualization of the machine's camera view.

The post-residency training is still training. For people like surgeons whose baseline residencies are already very long, without getting into the medical field pushing for fellowship post-residency, any extra time is often a bigger investment than it seems.

Also, "intensive" training can be fine as catch up, but (if I had to guess) probably depends on users having some baseline understanding and ability with the machines. A 40yo who never touched one like will feel pretty wonky at the controls and a 1-3 month course likely wont fully fix that. Also, again, comfort needs to be there; you cant just use a machine to do surgery if youre not super comfortable with your mastery of it.

This is true more for tongue base tumors than predominantly tonsil tumors. You really don't need a robot to do a proper radical tonsillectomy, though a robotic platform may enable more surgeons to do a proper radical tonsillectomy.

I think what's novel about this robot is its modularity and much lower profile. It also has an open console, as in you're not tunnelling your head into a console when operating the robot - you're wearing glasses but have an open view of the OR including the patient's bedside.

I think this might confer an advantage for those who do transoral robotic surgery because with da Vinci you are still dependent on the quality of your bedside assistant to know when and how tools and the camera are colliding with the patient's teeth and with each other. With an open console you can see the patient without taking the camera view out of your field of vision.

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This rendered on my phone as "New type of surgical robot used to remove throat"

Oh damn, robot uprising is not messing around.

They look SO human-like these days- amazing!

/s

Great, now you've gone and taught the robots to cut our throats!

So THATS what happened to Chandler!!!

Ok. So if that's what it used to do, what does it do now?

I designed a new DaVinci OR in an existing hospital this year. FGI has minimum guidelines for the room, the issue becomes robot positioning and use for staff. Trip hazards for the circulating and patient nurse are a major concern from the wires from the patient cart, vision cart, and surgeon console. You’re able to better contain them with overhead boom coordination that gets them off the floor. There’s also concerns about the robot approach to the patient because the operating table’s head isn’t going to do a 180 if you have a floor fed anesthesia machine / medgas. You have to plan for the robot to have good positioning at both sides. Other concerns were MEP related to make sure the robot would perform correctly in the room / not hit the overhead boom system when fully deployed.

What I’d personally be interested in is how easy it is to clean the new robot’s arms. Current DaVinci’s take a long time to be sterilized compared to conventional instruments. If the new robot can be sterilized quicker it would allow for more either more cases to be preformed or allow your sterile processing department to have some breathing room in their workflow.

You don’t need to now with da Vinci…..

It could only whine audibly

Throatbot

Wish my grandfather was alive to see this

As an OR nurse you can absolutely move a DaVinci from room to room.

That's what she said

Used to? What does it do now?

Throat goat

It’s white

The next version is likely to keep the throat in the human too!

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If I ever need surgery again, I sure hope it is a surgical robot and not a narcissistic meat-bot who had a grade-inflation GPA and who drank its way through some weak-tea medical school and now works on human beings as if they were chattel.