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How does a robotic surgery work? [photos, video]

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/2/16. Circulation Nurse Mark Huber assists as a team attaches a DaVinci Xi robot to a patient while performing a robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy at CHI Memorial Hospital on November 2, 2017. Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/2/16. Circulation Nurse Mark Huber assists as a team attaches a DaVinci Xi robot to a patient while performing a robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy at CHI Memorial Hospital on November 2, 2017.

By Steve Johnson November 13, 2016 13 min read

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Friday The 13th Fishing

Ron Duncan of Springdale overcame tough odds to catch fish on the Elk River on Sept. 13 2013. It was Friday the 13th. A cold front had just blown through and the breeze was from the east.

Duncan caught this Elk River largemouth bass on a spinner bait.

Duncan looks at a smallmouth bass he caught during a break to wade-fish.

A flood in August changed the look of the Elk River in several places. These trees in the river weren't too difficult to maneuver around.

Duncan fishes his way toward the U.S. 71 bridge over the Elk River.

An Arkie Crawling Grub made by Arkie Lures of Springdale is Duncan's favorite lure for smallmouth bass.

Duncan fishes in a backwater during a gravel-bar lunch break where he caught the day's biggest smallmouth bass.

This smallmouth bass that Duncan caught from a backwater was big smallmouth of the day.

Tube baits and grubs were effective for catching average-sized smallmouth bass. Duncan switched to a large spinner bait later to target big fish.

Duncan worked a black Tiny Torpedo like a buzz bait to catch several fish on the Elk River.

Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day on the Elk River for a float-fishing trip along the storied Ozark stream. Ron Duncan of Springdale and outdoors editor Flip Putthoff cast superstition to the wind and enjoyed a stellar day of fishing and canoeing on the beautiful Elk River, near Pineville, Mo. Summer blended into fall on the 5-mile drift that took place Friday, Sept. 13. Staff photos by Flip Putthoff

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More robots in Chattanooga operating rooms

It’s 8:45 a.m. when the patient, a man in his late 60s, is wheeled into the second floor operating room, one of two (out of 31) dedicated to robotic surgery at CHI Memorial Hospital.

The robotic gear includes three separate parts – the controller, where surgeon Dr. Lee Jackson will sit to manipulate the robotic arms; the module that includes the arms itself and the vision system, including a miniature camera and almost a dozen monitors scattered around the room to allow everyone involved in the operation to see what is happening.

The module with four foot-long arms dangling down in front, what the manufacturer calls the “patient side cart,” is off to the side of the room. Before they can be used, metal ports through which the robotic tools will operate must be inserted into the patient’s body.