Heart robot!
“Heartlander” is a caterpillar-like robot designed to walk on the surface of the heart. It’s 2cm long, and holds onto the heart by suckers attached to a vacuum line. It can be used to install pacemaker leads, inject drugs, or attach other medical devices. While current minimally invasive techniques can work by accessing the interior of the heart through veins and arteries, the exterior is typically hard to work with because the chest cavity is tight, and the heart is beating.
Video and more information can be found at the project website.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:46 am
[…] discussed here, Heartlander gets a spread in the […]