Robot surgery is easy on the eye: The real-world R2-D2 has a much more important job than its fictional namesake: maintaining and restoring the eyesight of human beings

摘要

Everybody knows R2-D2. Such is the success of the Star Wars films that even those with no interest whatsoever in science fiction would recognise the little cylindrical robot on its three legs. They might even know that its stubby body houses a number of delicate manipulators for interfacing with external computers, and carrying out precise tasks. But they might be surprised to find that fiction has begun to leak into reality, because there is now a real R2-D2 that is designed to carry out the most precise tasks. And although the characters in Star Wars trust R2-D2 implicitly, the people who come into contact with its real-world namesake will have to invest an even greater amount of trust in it, because this robot's job is to maintain and even restore the sense most precious to human beings: eyesight.