A team of researchers at the University of South Wales in Sydney has unveiled an engineering marvel called F3DB.
The robotic arm is designed to spare patients major surgery. It can enter the body through a natural opening or a tiny incision and rebuild damaged organs by printing living cells. The bio-inks used for printing include gelatin, collagen, and human cells.
Unlike conventional surgery, the small flexible “hand” with a maneuverable attachment performs minimally invasive procedures. The engineers say the robot causes no damage to external tissues. The developers say the device could be tested in hospitals within five to seven years and could become a standard endoscopic tool for surgeons.
The device uses soft artificial muscles that let it move in three directions, similar to a tabletop 3D printer. The surgical robot is also equipped with hydraulics that allow the arm to bend and rotate.
The device can be adjusted to any penetration length. Its stiffness is regulated using elastic tubes and fabrics, the Daily Mail reported. The printing process can be programmed in advance or controlled manually if a surgeon encounters a specific issue.
The robotic arm will soon be equipped with an MRI system
The developers say the invention has big potential, especially for repairing the walls of the stomach and colon. It could be especially useful for treating cancers such as colorectal cancer, which is the third most common cancer worldwide.
The team tested the viability of tissue printed by the robotic hand on a pig intestine. The experiment succeeded: the new cells not only survived but also proliferated — their number quadrupled a week after the operation.
Dr. Thanh Nho Do, the lead author of the F3DB project, says current 3D bioprinting methods produce tissues outside the patient’s body. Implanting them usually requires complex surgery with large incisions, which raises the risks of infection and organ rejection and leads to a long recovery period.
Researchers plan further trials of the robotic hand on animal organs; the device has already received a preliminary patent. They also plan to add features such as a built-in camera and a real-time scanning system for 3D tomography of tissues inside the body.
