Surgical robot stitches tissue by itself, step to more automated OR

Getting stitched up by Dr. Robot may one day be reality: Scientists have created a robotic system that did just that in living animals without a real doctor pulling the strings. Much like engineers are designing self-driving cars, Wednesday's research is part of a move toward autonomous surgical robots, removing the surgeon's hands from certain tasks that a machine might perform all by itself. No, doctors wouldn't leave the bedside -- they're supposed to supervise, plus they'd handle the rest of the surgery. Nor is the device ready for operating rooms. But in small tests using pigs, the robotic arm performed at least as well, and in some cases a bit better, as some competing surgeons in stitching together intestinal tissue, researchers reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.