In Calgary, robots do surgery.

That’s the surprise of the day from the folks up in Canada as Rockyview General Hospital is the first hospital in Canada to lay hands on a da Vinci Robot Si HD.

Small wonder they’re first, either–turns out these things cost a whopping $3.3 million.  But what do you get for that money?  Well, what you get is the first ever robot surgeon.  It also comes with high definition 3D vision, and performs “minimally invasive surgical procedures”, like those done to treat prostate cancer and other diseases.  It offers that machinelike precision in very difficult environments, so it’s pretty safe to say that this beast is worth the bucks.

I’m not sure I like the thought of a robot with a scalpel near my junk, but as long as there are humans around to keep an eye on it / pull its plug / shoot it with a twelve-gauge if trouble arises, I suppose I’d be okay with some mechanical precision.

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