Robot Locates and Removes Cancer Tumors

Autonomous Tumor Localization and Extraction: Palpation, Incision, Debridement and Adhesive Closure with the da Vinci Research Kit. This video demonstrates a successful trial of the entire five-step procedure where human input is required only at four points to change tools.​ We also show failure modes of the current autonomous system and we are working on experiments to characterize the reliability of each step and on incorporating computer vision and new probing algorithms to improve robustness.