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R2D2, M.D.

winter07 smarts peine From farming to spinal surgery, precision technology is the key to maximum results with minimum impact. William Peine, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, is looking for ways to marry advanced medical imaging technology with surgical robotics, medicine’s most glamorous tool for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). In robot-aided MIS, long, thin arms with remotely controlled surgical tips are inserted into a patient through tiny incisions, while laparoscopic video cameras allow a surgeon at an adjacent console to guide the mechanized instruments. In this scenario, Peine says, “the processing happens inside the surgeon’s head.” To improve the outcomes of MIS as well as eliminate human risk factors such as hand tremors, however, Peine is developing an image-guided system wherein geometric data from MRI or CT scans can be used to pre-program and limit the movement of the surgical robots, creating “keep-out zones” so the robot can avoid damaging nerves and tissue. “You’ve got to allow the robot to do something that people can’t do now, and that’s where image guidance comes in,” says Peine, who also developed a remote tactile sensing device while pursuing his Ph.D. in engineering sciences at Harvard. He aims to equip surgeons who want to employ surgical robots not only with the highest-quality X-ray vision, but the diagnostic power of touch as well.