Tools Highlight C: HeartLander Robot

Dr. Cam Riviere and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University have developed HeartLander, a minimally invasive robotic device for heart surgery that can adhere to the heart surface and navigate to any desired work site under the control of a surgeon. It uses suction to adhere to the heart and crawls like an inchworm across the surface. The device incorporates a videoscope to provide visual feedback to the surgeon, who controls it through a joystick interface. The device has a working channel through which various tools can be introduced for such surgical procedures as electrode placement, tissue ablation, drug or tissue injection, and anastomosis. Because the HeartLander attaches directly to the surface of the heart, it can be used to perform high-precision procedures without requiring compensation of heartbeat motion. Because it can crawl or walk to reach any point on the heart surface from any incision in the pericardial sac, it can be inserted through an incision below the ribcage and does not require general anesthesia, as is required with typical minimally invasive heart surgery instruments which enter between the ribs and, therefore, require deflation of the left lung for access. Since it is compatible with local or regional anesthesia, instead of general anesthesia, it could be used to enable ambulatory outpatient heart surgery for the first time.



The prototype has been tested on the beating hearts of four live pigs, and has demonstrated successful prehension, turning, and walking. The HeartLander project has been possible because of the tight coupling between engineers and surgeons that has been facilitated by the ERC. A patent has been filed for the device, and the university is considering the establishment of a start-up company to commercialize it.



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