Forty years after Raquel Welch slugged it out with killer white blood cells in the sci-fi adventure Fantastic Voyage, scientists are preparing to send miniature robots into the human body to help carry out operations.
Prototypes of the radio-controlled robots, built by medical researchers at the University of Nebraska, have already been used to help perform gall bladder and prostate removal in pig experiments, according to the New Scientist. The team hopes to start human trials in England this spring.
The robots, equipped with tiny cameras to relay images to surgeons or needles to perform biopsies, are the latest in a long line of hi-tech medical innovations to grab the headlines.
Meanwhile, an engineer at Carnegie Mellon University's Nanorobotics Laboratory is developing a tiny robotic beetle to examine the intestines. It is hoped that the "beetle", which will crawl like an inchworm, could be used to help remove tumours.
But robots are already seeing patients in the UK. Last year the Guardian reported on Dr Robbie the 'robodoc' who works on the wards at St Mary's hospital, west London. The robot, which looks like a cross between Dusty Bin and a Dalek, has proved popular with patients. And as Dr Robbie needs no breaks or holiday, and never asks for a pay rise, he may well prove the answer to the NHS's current financial crisis.
