Cutting-edge medicine
Keyhole surgery was a major medical advance, offering patients minimally invasive surgical operations and quicker recovery times, but there are parts of the body that are too delicate or inaccessible for this approach. The i-Snake combines state-of-the-art engineering and medical expertise using sensory and manipulation technologies capable of reaching inside the gut and the heart. This solution would enable surgeons to carry out complex and demanding procedures while limiting trauma to surrounding tissues.

World-renowned team
The team at Imperial College London includes Professor Sir Ara Darzi of the Division of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics, one of the UK’s leading surgeons in the field of Minimum Invasive Surgery (MIS), and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang who is the Director of Medical Imaging and Robotics at Imperial's Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Using special motors, multiple sensing mechanisms and imaging tools at its 'head', the flexible i-Snake robot will navigate difficult and restrictive regions of the body. Among the many possible applications of i-Snake is the clinical investigation of the alimentary tract, or complex, multi-vessel coronary bypass surgery.

Professor Yang describes two key uses of the i-Snake, ‘firstly, in surgery we are moving away from open surgery to a minimally invasive surgery. Developing robots to work inside the body allows the patient to recover much quicker and also have a better quality of life after the surgery. Secondly, the device can give access to areas which cannot be directly accessed such as certain kinds of cancers.’

Multiple sensing mechanism
He explains, ‘the i-Snake has very flexible joints which are controlled by miniaturised motors. The device’s compulsion mechanics enable it to move in a controlled way. The i-Snake is prevented from damaging the tissue because we know exactly the amount of force exerted, the imaging guide constantly feeds information and you can perform what is called a dynamic active constraint that can prevent it from entering no-go areas.’

Right now the i-Snake is in the laboratory, but Professor Yang believes it could be five years away from application in human subjects. He adds, ‘it highlights the increasingly important role of medical image computing in reshaping the future of medical technology.’ The future of surgery could be in the hands of ‘microbots’.