International Space Station Gets Autonomous Surgical Robot (VIDEO)  

It reminds me of something from Prometheus

With the space agencies planning missions to send people to the Moon and Mars, it is also necessary to have medical equipment for emergencies since the return to Earth can take from days to months. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln therefore developed the Miniaturized In-vivo Robotic Assistant (MIRA), reminiscent of something from the MedPod in the movie Prometheus. MIRA is practically a mobile surgical robot and will be sent to the ISS in 2024 to evaluate its ability to perform surgeries in space.

MIRA has been in development for 20 years and has attracted over $100 million in investment. It offers two advantages over conventional robotic surgical platforms. First, its organs can be inserted into the patient’s body through small incisions, allowing doctors to limit blood loss. Second, it supports telemedicine, with surgeons able to perform operations while away from the patient. In addition, MIRA has the advantage of being able to perform operations autonomously, without the need for control by a surgeon.

The MIRA platform is designed to bring the power of a complete surgical device to a small size, with the goal of making remote procedures accessible to any operating room on the planet. Working with NASA on the International Space Station, we will test how MIRA can make surgeries accessible in even more distant places.

MIRA performed its first successful surgery in August 2021 at Lincoln Medical Center in Nebraska, where it removed part of a patient’s intestine with a single incision. In another experiment, former astronaut Clayton Anderson operated MIRA from the Johnson Space Center to perform surgery 1,450 kilometers away.

On the ISS MIRA will autonomously precisely cut rubber, simulating skin, and insert metal rings into a wire, simulating delicate surgeries.

NASA has ambitious plans for long stays in space, and it’s important to test the capabilities of technology that can be critical on missions lasting months and years.