Technology
The speed of remote surgery is made possible through ATM technology, or Asynchronous Transfer Mode. “Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a technology designed for the high-speed transfer of voice, video, and data through public and private networks using cell relay technology”. Cell relay technology is the method of using small fixed length packets or cells to transfer data between computers or network equipment and determines the speed at which information is transferred. ATM technology has a maximum speed of 10 Gbit/s (Gigabits per second). This developed technology provides opportunities for more transatlantic surgeries similar to the Operation Lindbergh. During a surgery, the robot arm can use a different angle during a laparoscopic surgery than a tool in the surgeon’s hand, providing easier movement. The da Vinci Surgical System, using "Endowrist" instruments, allows the surgeon seven degrees of rotation and a range of motion far greater than the human hand while filtering out the hand’s natural tremor.
Read more about this topic: Remote Surgery
Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“Primitive peoples tried to annul death by portraying the human body—we do it by finding substitutes for the human body. Technology instead of mysticism!”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation. Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)