This week, Google’s Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) and Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson medical device company, announced the formation of a startup called Verb. What is Verb? Something about medical robotics, I guess:
本周，谷歌的Verily 公司(原谷歌生命科学公司)和强生医疗器械公司Ethicon，宣布成立一家名为动词(Verb)的新公司。动词公司成立的使用是——开发医疗机器人。
“In the coming years, Verb aims to develop a comprehensive surgical solutions platform that will incorporate leading-edge robotic capabilities and best-in-class medical device technology for operating room professionals.”
“在未来几年,动词的目标是开发一个全面的外科解决方案平台,为手术室里的专家们提供最尖端的机器人功能和一流的医疗设备技术”。
Sounds good to me! But seriously, that’s not much to go on, so let’s see what we can piece together from the press releases put out from the various companies involved.
对我来说,这听起来不错!但是说真的,这还不够，所以让我们看看从相关公司的新闻稿里面还能找出什么信息。
The picture at the top of this article almost definitely isn’t Verb’s new surgical robot. It’s Taurus, from SRI Robotics, which (according to a press release) “is licensing next-generation robotics technology to Verb Surgical that we believe will impact both the open and minimally invasive surgery markets and ultimately make the benefits of robotic surgery accessible to more patients around the world.”
本文的顶部的照片几乎可以肯定不是动词机器人公司的最新手术机器人。而是斯坦福研究院机器人所（SRI Robotics）开发的Taurus机器人，而根据新闻发布会的消息，Taurus为动词外科机器人提供了下一代的机器人技术，对微创手术市场将产生巨大影响,最终使机器人手术的好处带给全球各地的患者。”
While Taurus, originally designed as a bomb-disposal robot, is very much not a surgical robot in its current implementation, it represents several technologies that are very valuable in a surgical context: highly dexterous small manipulators and an advanced teleoperation system with haptic feedback.
虽然Taurus机器人最初的设计是作为一个拆弹机器人,而不是一个外科手术机器人,但它代表了几个非常有价值的技术，尤其是在外科手术领域，比如高度灵巧、先进的遥控操作系统等等。
The SRI press release also says that “Verb Surgical is developing a new robotic surgery platform that will integrate technologies such as advanced imaging, data analysis, and machine learning to enable greater efficiency and improved outcomes across a wide range of surgical procedures,” which is interesting because of the reference to machine learning. Machine learning can be applied to all sorts of things, of course, but existing commercial surgical robots have mostly steered far away from any kind of learning behaviors or anything that is in the least bit autonomous. If the technology can be made reliable enough, it would be an enormous advance if surgical robots could collaboratively lend their intelligence to human-controlled surgery.
斯坦福研究院在新闻发布会上还说，“动词手术机器人公司将开发一种新的机器人手术平台,将整合技术,如先进的成像技术,数据分析,和机器学习，来实现更高的效率和改善外科手术,“这很有趣,因为机器学习可以应用到各种各样的东西,当然,但现有商业手术机器人大多都不能自主操作。如果这项技术足够可靠,将是一个巨大的进步,尤其是当手术机器人协作能让人控制的手术更智能化。
This is true for the same reason that autonomous cars are better drivers than humans are: they have the potential to digest enormous amounts of data (including types that humans can’t directly access) and rapidly make highly informed decisions. We’re not suggesting that purely robotic surgeons are the way to go anytime soon, but as intelligent tools, they could be invaluable.
就像自动驾驶汽车是比人类司机更好的:它们能处理海量的数据(包括类型,人类不能直接访问)和快速做出非常明智的决定。我们并不是说单纯的机器人外科医生很快的路要走,但作为智能工具,他们可能是无价的。
美国电气电子工程师学会（IEEE）的Spectrum（《光谱》）期刊报道
robot.tv