[ExI] Robot that watched surgery videos performs with skill of human doctor

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Robot that watched surgery videos performs with skill of human doctor.
Breakthrough training system utilizing imitation learning opens 'new
frontier' in medical robotics.
By Jill Rosen      Published Nov 11, 2024

<https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/11/11/surgery-robots-trained-with-videos/>
Quotes:
The successful use of imitation learning to train surgical robots
eliminates the need to program robots with each individual move
required during a medical procedure and brings the field of robotic
surgery closer to true autonomy, where robots could perform complex
surgeries without human help.

"It's really magical to have this model and all we do is feed it
camera input and it can predict the robotic movements needed for
surgery," said senior author Axel Krieger, an assistant professor in
JHU's Department of Mechanical Engineering. "We believe this marks a
significant step forward toward a new frontier in medical robotics."

While the da Vinci system is widely used, researchers say it's
notoriously imprecise. But the team found a way to make the flawed
input work. The key was training the model to perform relative
movements rather than absolute actions, which are inaccurate.

"All we need is image input and then this AI system finds the right
action," said lead author Ji Woong "Brian" Kim, a postdoctoral
researcher at Johns Hopkins. "We find that even with a few hundred
demos, the model is able to learn the procedure and generalize new
environments it hasn't encountered."
Added Krieger: "The model is so good learning things we haven't taught
it. Like if it drops the needle, it will automatically pick it up and
continue. This isn't something I taught it do."
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AI chatbots are already helping doctors diagnose medical problems.
Now they have started to do the surgery as well!

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