Robotic medical technology similar this has been around for quite some time. I remember researching it with my rookie Lego League team for the Mission Mars challenge. We needed to come up with a way to repair robots that had broken on Mars. The kids came up with the idea of having a "Mars Garage" where the robots would be repaired using technology such as this, based on the
Da Vinci Surgical System. The difference between the surgery mentioned by the article and the surgery performed by the Da Vinci system is that this time, the surgery was performed WITHOUT any human input.
This technology is amazing, thats for sure. One thing the article implied which caught my attention is the possibility that surgical procedures may be "outsourced" to robots, and that the value of the human labor will be reduced. However, one must think about the realm of new job opportunities that are created by this new technology (in terms of the scientists/doctors/engineers needed to develop and improve its implementation). Medical expertise will always be needed in order to develop these technologies.
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Mentors need to be sure that the team is on track to have a working robot ready. Students can do almost everything, but they need help watching the calender. Even if your ideas turn out bad, if your robot is inspectable and running when you arrive at your first event, anything can happen. - AcesPease [more] 
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