BIOMECHANICS
A robot to test the spinal cord
Surgeons and engineers from Basel and Bern have developed a robot that can quantify spinal stiffness.
Spinal deformities can often only be corrected by fusing the bone in sections of the backbone. But the principle behind this technique originates in medicine already a century old, says the spine surgeon Daniel Studer from Basel. In collaboration with bioengineers from the University of Bern, a robot has now been developed that can help devise better methods. During an operation, it can measure the three-dimensional segmental stiffness of a patient’s spine, and gather biomechanical data.