A robot developed by a Taiwanese doctoral candidate in Belgium and his research team has won acclaim for its ability to perform minimally invasive surgery precisely and with more dexterity than a currently available system.
“Medical robots will inevitably become standard equipment in medical institutions in the future,” the robot’s developer Tang Hsiao-wei (湯孝威) said.
He said the Da Vinci Surgical System is currently the only robotic system being used for minimally invasive surgery.
One drawback of the Da Vinci system is that its robotic arms need a lot of maneuvering room, Tang said.
The Vesalius robot, created by Tang’s team under the sponsorship of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, allows better control of robotic arm movements and provides greater dexterity.
The Vesalius system won second place in the Start Academy business plan competition for university students in Belgium and the top prize in the competition’s Best Commercial Business Plan category.
One of the other two members on Tang’s team, Taiwanese student Huang Hsin-fu (黃新富), said their plan’s success in the competition indicated that the device has gained the recognition of Belgium’s business sector.
Tang, who hails from Tainan County, has been studying at K.U. Leuven for 10 years as an international exchange student.
The third member of the team is Belgian doctoral student Thierry Janssens.
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