Imagine undergoing surgery on a robotic bed that can automatically help perform a magnetic resonance imaging scan while an artificial intelligence system actively supports surgeons by suggesting various procedures. It sounds like a scenario from a Hollywood movie, but it’s reality in Japan.
“If we have many kinds of information, we need some kind of strategy desk, like Mission Control at NASA,” says SCOT project leader Yoshihiro Muragaki, a professor in Tokyo Women’s Medical University’s Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science. “Our moonshot is to make new eyes, brains and hands for surgeons. With SCOT, we can perform precision-guided therapy.”
“Even under a microscope, it’s very difficult to detect where brain tumor tissue ends and healthy tissue begins,” says Muragaki. “That’s why we need MRI during surgery. It’s a very powerful tool for removing tumors. But that also means we can only use MRI-compatible devices in the operating room and we must choose them carefully.”With over 100 researchers, SCOT is the result of a complex collaboration between academia and the private and public sectors.
“There’s a growing recognition that if a company categorizes itself as a camera company, for instance, it is limiting itself,” Keiichiro Koumura, an official with major real estate company Mitsui Fudosan, recently told attendees at an open innovation seminar at Mitsui Fudosan’s Base Q in Tokyo. “Because as technology changes, cameras have become smartphones. One way to address this is open innovation.