Robert Webster

VISE team seeks to develop new robot to ease prostatectomies

The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) team of Robert Webster III, PhD, and Duke Herrell, MD, have received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new surgical robot for endoscopic transurethral prostatectomy.

Team to develop steerable robotic needle for biopsies

Collaboration between a mechanical engineer at Vanderbilt University and a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has resulted in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant that will be used to develop a steerable robotic needle to safely biopsy hard-to-reach lung nodules.

Team developing imaging upgrade for robotic surgery

Removing part of a kidney with minimally invasive robotic surgery rather than an entire kidney when operating for smaller tumors is often best for patients from a recovery and health standpoint, but many surgeons hesitate to do so because of the complexity of the robotic partial nephrectomy procedure.

researcher and helmet

How six cups of ground coffee can improve nose, throat surgery

Vanderbilt engineers have designed a “granular jamming cap” filled with coffee grounds that can improve the accuracy of the sophisticated “GPS” system that surgeons use for nose and throat surgery.

Wrist Robot Vanderbilt

Tiny mechanical wrist gives new dexterity to needlescopic surgery

VIDEO» A Vanderbilt research team has successfully created a mechanical wrist less than 1/16th of an inch thick — small enough to use in needlescopic surgery, the smallest form of minimally invasive surgery.