1. Tiny Surgeons Robots May Do Work Within Body
Large-scale robots already play a role in heart surgery. Now, tiny machines may heal the body from the inside

2. Robotic Arm
Robotic instruments give a surgeon the same range of motion as a human hand. (Not to scale.) (Intuitive Surgical)

3. Operating Room
Surgeons operate the robotic arms from a console that can be placed inside or outside the operating room. (Intuitive Surgical)

4. Heart Surgery
Instead of opening up a patient's chest, a surgeon can operate through tiny holes needed to insert the robotic arms. (Intuitive Surgical)

5. Instrument Tips
A variety of tiny instrument tips, including scalpels and scissors, can be attached to the robotic arms. (Intuitive Surgical)

6. Bypass Close-up
The robotic instruments as they appear during heart bypass surgery. (Intuitive Surgical)

7. Chest View
A camera and surgical arms are threaded through the ribcage to reach the heart. (Intuitive Surgical)

8. Robotic System
The da Vinci surgical cart in use at the University of Leipzig in Germany. (Intuitive Surgical)

9. Control Console
By peering into the surgical console, a surgeon gets a three-dimensional view of the operating field inside a patient's chest. (Intuitive Surgical)