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TAG students take Providence's surgical robot for a test drive Abraham Lincoln Elementary fifth grade students Emmett Stouder, Samuel Havens, Nick Poshier and Jesse Brumble watch as one of their classmates attempts to stitch up a fake wound with a surgical robot. [Ryan Pfeil / Mail Tribune] Friday Jun 2, 2017 at 3:38 PM Jun 2, 2017 at 4:00 PM Ryan Pfeil Mail Tribune @RyanPfeil Fourth-grader Kaelyn Nelson takes a seat at a console and grasps a set of controls normally handled by certified surgeons. In Providence Medford Medical Center's Caritas Room, she peers through a hood to a viewing screen that gives her a close-up view of what her task at hand will entail: a small tray inhabited by what looks like a colorful cartoon forest with rings on the trees. As Kaelyn carefully weaves her temporarily bionic hands, robotic arms on a da Vinci Surgical System begin to move over her shoulder. Tiny pliers pinch and fetch a tiny ring from its original spot, and Kaelyn moves it carefully to another. "It felt a little funny at first, but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier once you do it," Kaeyln says. Kaelyn is one of a group of fourth- through sixth-grade Talented and Gifted Program students from Abraham Lincoln Elementary's after-school robotics class handling the hospital's $2.5 million surgical device Friday. The simulations include the ring exercise and one where they attempt to suture a fake wound. One by one, the students take turns at the console, grasping the controls and moving the robotic arms built to perform such meticulous surgeries. "It gives a chance for the kids to actually put what they have been learning into a real-world application," says Matthew Frank, who works in Providence's clinical engineer imaging department. "Sometimes a theory is hard to understand or you don't know how pieces go together. It really kind of ties it all together for them." Students took to the hands-on lesson. "It's really cool because you're doing it with the robot, but it also feels like you're doing it with your own hands," says student Samuel Havens. "Because you're looking at it from above and you're doing the movements." The robot is the only one at Providence, and 10 surgeons are certified to use it. The device, developed by Intuitive Surgical Inc., is mostly used for urological and gynecological procedures, Frank says. "As far as patient care is concerned and recovery time, in-hospital stay time, it is unbelievable on getting the patient in for their surgeries, getting them recovered faster, getting them back home quicker," Frank says. "And really that's what everyone wants." Frank has a son in the school's TAG program and helped facilitate the trip, Abraham Lincoln teacher DJ Muller says. Muller says the class is currently building Lego Mindstorm robots, intended to teach youth about programming and engineering. They have also learned about the increased presence of robotics in the workforce. It's a thrill to watch his students see a concrete example of this in action, he says. "How nice is it to bring your kids from an academic environment to a real-world application?" Muller says. Reach reporter Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil.