Operating inside a beating heart is a complex, delicate procedure that requires skilled surgeons. Medical personnel typically use joysticks and a combination of x-rays or ultrasound to carefully guide catheters through the body.

Now, for the first time, a robotic catheter has been able to autonomously navigate inside a heart to help carry out a particularly complex procedure. The device, which was inspired by the way certain animals learn about their surroundings, was used to help surgeons close leakages within the hearts of five live pigs.

Fagogenis et al., Sci. Robot. 4, eaaw1977 (2019)

“Rats use whiskers to tap along the wall, humans feel their way, and cockroaches use their antennae,” says Harvard Medical School’s Pierre Dupont, who led the new study published in Science Robotics. “Similarly, this device uses touch sensors to work out where it is, and where to go next, based on a map of the heart.”