The futuristic robot that probes brains in Ender’s Game is no futuristic fantasy. The real-life machine, known as the Raven II surgical system, was built at the University of Washington and has already been used in brain tumor operations. The National Science Foundation has funded development of seven of these open-source robots, and they will soon be distributed to cutting edge medical facilities across the US.

The operating room where modern brain surgeries take place seems to be destined to become as technologically advanced any datacenter or laboratory. Sure, one could find more robots in a microfab or a Tesla plant, but the modern neurosurgical theater features the most improbable and perplexing convergence of technology found in any real estate in existence.

Even the areas adjacent to the main operating room are increasingly kitted-out with fantastic auxiliary equipment, like high-tech tomographic scanners, MRIs strong enough to lift a tank, 3D-printed skull parts, or machines to dispense perfectly-thawed replacement fluids. But until the Raven II, the only really complicated devices to actually enter the skull were the doctor’s fingers. There is still no beating human manipulators for accuracy and flexibility, but their bulk and susceptibility to fatigue is now increasingly felt as brain procedures become more complex.

The Da Vinci surgical device is perhaps the best known tele-operated surgical robot in use today. It has now logged a significant amount of flight time in the OR, and has accordingly had its share of crashes. Like the technological wonder that is the iPhone, the Da Vinci is also rather expensive, completely closed source, and makes quite a spectacle of itself when it fails. The creators of the Raven II intend to draw upon a larger contributing base of developers to make a more flexible and customizable, platform.

One concern is that like the recently developed robot phlebotomist the Raven II still lacks degrees of freedom where it would matter most — at the head. Like the Da Vinci, these robots are still basically cleaned-up industrial robots with long probes and maybe some provision at the end to hold a single-action tool. What is really needed is more of a snake-like probe tip that has fine joints that can bend and wiggle at points inside the skull. Without that, these devices can not really hope to replace the hand for critical cutting and cauterizing moves.

There is still plenty that these devices can do in the meantime beyond just holding lights, irrigating tissue, or tractioning the errant lobe. The equivalent of arthroscopic surgery for the brain is something that could potentially be of use for simple procedures. It is important to note though, that many of the most complex brain operations have a huge exploratory component to them — searching for tumor margins, or for “non-mission-critical” regions that can be excised to thwart seizure. Generally I would imagine that for now, surgeons, and their patients, would prefer to directly see what they are doing on, around, and inside of the brain.

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