Centre for Surgical Invention and Innovation
Development  of an Autonomous Medical Robot for Long Space Flights — The  Centre for Surgical Invention and Innovation developed an Image-Guided  Automated Robot ( IGAR ) designed to carry out automated, preplanned,  imaging-technology-guided surgical procedures. IGAR 's medical procedures have  proven to be equivalent in precision, comfort, and time with less pain and  better cosmetic outcomes than the standard manual procedure. This feasibility study proposes to merge IGAR with the IBM Watson Cognitive Computing System, allowing Watson to plan and control  the execution of IGAR 's surgical tasks. This will be the first demonstration of  a fully autonomous medical robotic system in the world. This technology would  be vitally important to the future of human space exploration and colonization,  as well as improve quality and access to health care on Earth.