Would YOU trust a robot to operate on your spine when a 1mm slip could be devastating?

Bending down to pick up the final package of his day's round, delivery driver Richard Fuller felt a sudden stabbing pain in his lower back. 'It was as if someone had stuck a knife into my kidney,' recalls Richard, now 57, who managed to drive home but was'in absolute agony'. Assuming he'd pulled a muscle, he took some paracetamol and went to bed, hoping rest might help. The next day, however, his back was so stiff and painful that he could barely get up. 'I live alone, so my parents came over to help me as I could only get around bent over and shuffling about,' says Richard, who lives in Canterbury, Kent.