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.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had