picture is from http://www.flickr.com/photos/atsivista/662289450/

Close your eyes and imagine a situation where you are in need of a surgical procedure that only one doctor in the world can perform. Imagine you only have a limited time to receive this surgery. The only problem is that the only doctor is 700 miles away and not able to reach you. The only thing that can save you is long-distance robotic surgery. Would you allow the procedure to go on?

You might be asking yourself what exactly is long-distance robotic surgery...well it is basically where a surgeon is controlling a robot performing the surgery hundreds of miles away.

Long distance robotic surgery can happen just about anywhere. Scientists and doctors are working together to make it possible for robots to perform surgeries in space. The only complication is that on earth the commands take one second to go from one side to the other. In space the commands would take much longer than what doctors would like them too.

Kavoussi, a surgeon, was performing an operation through long distance robotic surgery on Joseph Kolodzieski who was over 700 miles away. The operation was a success and was being viewed by doctors at an American College of Surgeons meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Kavoussi was controlling the robot through a computer. He was directing the camera, gas injections, and blades on the robot. Kavoussi has performed surgeries from Baltimore on people in Thailand, Singapore, Rome, Austria, and Brazil (Robots).

Robots can be programmed not to make mistakes. Therefore they are more reliable than humans who can make mistakes.