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KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) — Robotic surgery has its perks. It minimizes pain, risk of infection and blood loss. It's more precise and has a shorter recovery time than traditional surgeries.
And recently, it was a source of inspiration for a group of seven students from the Kankakee School District Robotics Team, who went to Riverside Medical Center on their day off school.
Students watched a robot conduct a hernia surgery and used it to tie knots in a rubber band. The experience demonstrated how their early robotics education can turn into a career.
"It took me beyond the games we do with our robot and showed how what we're learning plays into the workplace when you grow up," sophomore Celeste Shea said. "It made me see where robotics could lead us."
Schools are emphasizing STEM jobs more than ever before, and seeing the robot technology at Riverside opened the students' eyes.
"Technology is a major part of life now, but it takes a lot of human hours to make this stuff work," sophomore Devan Wibur said. "It's really complicated, but it's a major accomplishment once we get this technology together."
At the same time, it appears to be simpler. Controlling the robot almost looks like playing a video game. Surgeons look into a 3-D display and control the robot's movements with levers and pedals.
"They're using the same principles that we do," robotics coach Brent Johnston said. "We often think we need to be more sophisticated, but this goes to show that we can do the simple things and still produce something incredible."
Riverside started offering robot surgeries about 10 years ago. It performs about 350 robotic surgeries every year.
Jo Kilpatrick, the hospital's director of surgery, said more patients are requesting robotic surgery because of the rapid recovery. She said it takes a week or two for someone to recover from a robotic surgery compared to eight weeks for a traditional surgery.
She said she hopes the students' experience shows them how technology enhances communities.
"Almost all the nurses in here were born and raised in this community and they're working with robots," Kilpatrick said. "So this furthers the
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Source: The (Kankakee) Daily Journal, http://bit.ly/1RTSEbv
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Information from: The Daily Journal, http://www.daily-journal.com
This is an AP-Illinois Exchange story offered by The (Kankakee) Daily Journal.
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