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Google plans ROBOTS to SLICE YOU OPEN AND CUT YOU UP

Chocolate Factory signs robo-surgeon development deal with Johnson & Johnson

Google has signed a deal to collaborate with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon to work on surgical robotics applications.

The J&J statement says the two companies will “bring together capabilities, intellectual property and expertise” in building a robotic-assisted surgical platform, with the kind of supporting sentence that can only be crafted by the dead hand of investor relations.

Whatever the two outfits build will be “integrating advanced technologies with the goal of improving health care delivery in the operating room”, the statement says.

The Chocolate Factory's Google X playpen is going to set its Life Sciences team loose to tackle procedures normally performed in open surgery.

Google told the Wall Street Journal it wants to contribute its computer science, imaging and sensor capabilities into surgical tools to do things like highlighting blood vessels and nerves, or spot the edge of tumours.

There's also the question of information organisation: surgeons often need multiple screens in the operating room so they can check medical images, look over the results of previous surgery, and help navigate the patient's anatomy.

J&J also notes that better surgery helps minimise both trauma and scarring, which in turn help post-surgical healing. ®

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