# Rise of the Machines: Anal Probing Robot **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588 "2007-12-29T13:02:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/1 "2007-12-29T13:02:40Z")
[The i-Snake, soon to be killing you at a hospital near you.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7155635.stm) > [@](#): > > Experts are developing a flexible surgical robot, known as the i-Snake, which they say could revolutionise keyhole surgery. > > It could enable surgeons to do complex procedures previously possible only through more invasive techniques. > > A team at Imperial College London has been granted £2.1 million for the work. > > They envisage using the i-Snake - a long tube housing special motors, sensors and imaging tools - for heart bypass surgery. > > But it could also be used to diagnose problems in the gut and bowel by acting as the surgeon’s hands and eyes in hard to reach places inside the body. Sounds good, right? Wait. > [@](#): > > One approach is Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery or Notes. This means operating in the peritoneal space through natural orifices or cavities, such as the bowel. _Anal probes!!!_ :eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/2 "2007-12-29T15:32:39Z")
Sounds sorta like a colonoscopy machine with a knife. Those innard snakes have been around for decades. If you are squeamish about the idea of anal probes, do NOT Google for [sex machine] or similar terms. Human ingenuity appears to know no bounds in the service of fetish satisfaction. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/3 "2007-12-29T15:53:24Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy] Human ingenuity appears to know no bounds in the service of fetish satisfaction. [/QUOTE] “Call Roto-rooter…that’s the name…and away go troubles, down the drain.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/4 "2007-12-29T15:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy] Sounds sorta like a colonoscopy machine with a knife. Those innard snakes have been around for decades. [/QUOTE] According to the interview I heard on the Beeb with one of the developers, the thing will be able to crawl around your insides on _autopilot!_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/5 "2007-12-29T17:44:03Z")
One of the new endoscopic tricks is to get large organs out through small holes. For kidney donation, they can remove a whole kidney via a slightly enlarged endoscopy portal. Organs being removed for non-transplant purposes are bagged up while still inside and mascerated so that the contents can be sucked out via a standard portal. Si ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/6 "2007-12-29T18:14:02Z")
I prefer to keep my iPod accessories on the _outside_ of my body. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rise-of-the-machines-anal-probing-robot/431588/7 "2007-12-29T20:20:07Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] According to the interview I heard on the Beeb with one of the developers, the thing will be able to crawl around your insides on _autopilot!_ :eek: [/QUOTE] :eek: indeed, I have enough trouble as it is telling Windows to shut down a malfunctioning application on my notebook computer…