The smaller the surgical intervention, the easier the consequences of the operations. This is especially true when it comes to brain surgery. It would be tempting and practical to repair damage to blood vessels and brain tissue from the inside, without cutting, using tiny robotic mechanisms. In France, they came up with one of these, which can be tested on humans as early as 2026.
Image source: Robeauté
The development was announced by the young company Robeauté, founded in 2017 by Bertrand Duplat and Joana Cartocci. Bertrand has spent decades designing robotic systems to operate in extreme environments. Personal circumstances prompted him to switch to developing miniature surgical robots.
The presented robot is approximately the size of a grain of rice. It is designed to help neurosurgeons perform brain surgery. At the first stage, the robot will be used to take biopsies – tissue samples from hard-to-reach places. In the future, it will be able to deliver drugs to specific areas of the brain and perform other tasks.
The robot was tested on dead animals back in 2021. The company is now preparing to test on human cadavers and live animals. Once regulatory approval is received, testing on live humans will begin, which should happen as early as next year. According to the developers, preliminary tests of the technology were highly appreciated among neurosurgeons. The new instrument has every chance of becoming in demand in clinics around the world.