The Meander Medical Center of Amersfoort is part of the group of top clinical educational hospitals. They also invest in many highly specialized healthcare techniques and research to provide the newest medical treatments. This hospital has four different centers for expertise within its organization of which one is a center for minimally invasive surgeries.
Together with the University of Twente and several consultancy companies specialized in technology and robotics, Meander is cooperating in the project “Robotics for Flexible Endoscope Steering.” During a normal endoscopic surgery, a flexible endoscope is used which is difficult to handle because it is flexible. This flexibility is, however, a necessity to reach certain parts of the body. The goal of this project is to use robotics to manipulate the instrument so that the person in control can use a remote control system. Experiments have already shown that with proper training, the robot steering will increase the efficiency of endoscopic surgery, increasing the safety and reducing the time needed to perform the surgery.
