Franciscan Health Crown Point: High School Students Test Drive New Hospital Surgical Robot

Franciscan-Health-Crown-Point-High-School-Students-Test-Drive-New-Hospital-Surgical-RobotNick Nunez, a Crown Point High School junior, was one of 22 members of the school’s Underdogs robotics team who “test drove” Franciscan Health Crown Point’s new da Vinci Xi Surgical System, the latest in robotics technology, during a program in the hospital lobby Nov. 2. The hospital recently became the first in Northwest Indiana to acquire the fourth-generation da Vinci model, built by California-based Intuitive Surgical, according to company clinical representative Neil Ebner, who led the program with the students, along with clinical manager Stephanie Hayes.

The robot is called the next frontier for minimally invasive surgery. da Vinci is powered by robotic technology that allows the surgeon’s hand movements to be scaled, filtered and translated into precise movements of the instruments working inside the patient’s body, according to the company.