MEET Captain Cortex – the new neurosurgery robot at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
NHS bosses invited people in the city to come up with names and received more than 700 suggestions. These were whittled down to five – Headward, Brian, Brainbot, Neuronimo and Captain Cortex – for a public vote, in which thousands of people participated.
Julie Woodfield, UHBW consultant paediatric neurosurgeon said: “Botty McBottface and Surgery McSurgeryface were very popular submissions. We did want the robot to have a friendly name which we can use when speaking to the children we care for and their families, but there were criteria we used to help us pick something appropriate.
“It doesn’t look how many people might imagine a robot to look. It has a very precise arm, articulated in different places which allows us to accurately pinpoint an entry and trajectory point moving us to the exact position on a patient’s head.”
Procedures the robot, manufactured by Renishaw and officially called neuromate, will be able to assist surgeons with include:
• Stereo-electroencephalography insertion, when electrodes are surgically placed through the skull and into the brain, to measure activity
• Stereotactic biopsies, when samples of tissue are collected
• Insertion of deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes.
All of these services are offered to children who live throughout the South West of England, the South of England and South Wales at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.