A steadier hand: South Korea's newest surgical robot can feel what it touches

Ajou University Hospital in South Korea has brought in the fifth-generation da Vinci 5 surgical robot, whose force-feedback technology lets surgeons sense how much pressure they are applying to tissue — a fingertip-like awareness robotic surgery has mostly lacked. With four robotic platforms now in service, the hospital is also adding a robot-guided bronchoscope that can steer a hair-thin catheter deep into the lungs to biopsy nodules that were once out of reach.