Press Release 05-100
Robot Assistant Reports to Surgery

Machine lets nurses focus on patient care

View video Penelope SIS delivers a surgical tool to doctors removing a benign tumor from a patient's forearm. Credit and Larger Version

June 21, 2005

For the first time, a robot acting independently and without a human operator has aided doctors performing surgery. On June 16, the Penelope Surgical Instrument Server (SIS) successfully delivered and retrieved instruments for a NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Pavilion surgical team as they removed a benign tumor from a patient's forearm.

Michael Treat, one of the hospital's surgeons and a professor of clinical surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, developed Penelope to perform some of the more mechanical and repetitive surgical tasks, thereby enabling nurses to concentrate on patient care.

The official press announcement released by the university, the hospital, and Robotic Surgical Tech, Inc.--the Columbia University Medical Center spin-off founded by Treat to develop Penelope SIS and related technologies -- can be found at: http://global.med.cornell.edu/news/nyp/nyp_2005/06_16_05.shtml

An NSF Discovery on Penelope also is available:

Robots in the OR -- Stat!
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100673

-NSF-

Penelope was developed in part with funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research program through the following grants:

SBIR Phase II: Robotic Scrub Technician
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0422114

Penelope's development was also supported by grants from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the Center for Advanced Information Management at Columbia University, New York State Office of Science, Technology & Academic Research, U.S. Army Medical Research & Material Command's Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Media Contacts
Joshua A. Chamot, NSF (703) 292-7730 jchamot@nsf.gov
Craig LeMoult, Columbia University (212) 305-0820 cel2113@columbia.edu
Bryan Dotson, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Pavilion (212) 305-5587 brd9005@nyp.org
Patrice E. Downey, Robotic Surgical Tech, Inc. (718) 432-0100 pdowney@roboticsurgicaltech.com

Program Contacts
Om P. Sahai, NSF (703) 292-7795 osahai@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Michael R. Treat, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Pavilion and Columbia University Medical Center (718) 432-0100 mt23@columbia.edu

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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