Lansing - Michigan residents have grown used to robots performing simple tasks on automobile assembly lines. But in Lansing, a robot is taking over the work of human hands in a much more sensitive arena - the operating room.

Surgeons at Lansing's Sparrow Hospital are getting a little help performing delicate procedures since the recent addition of a $1.2 million da Vinci robotic surgery system. There are about 300 such systems in the country - seven in Michigan.

The da Vinci, developed by Intuitive Surgical Inc., attaches miniature instruments and a camera to robotic arms which are inserted into the body through small incisions.

The camera uses two fiber-optic lenses to create a 3-D image of the surgical area. The surgeon views this image from a separate console and manipulates the robotic arms with joystick-like controls.

"It's similar to playing a video game," said Sparrow Hospital spokesman John Lux.

Dr. Joseph Mashni and Dr. Rafid Yousif were the first surgeons at Sparrow Hospital to take advantage of the device when they used the da Vinci to perform a prostatectomy on May 20. The patient is recovering speedily, Yousif said.

As of Thursday, eight more surgeries had been scheduled to use the system, and Lux said he expected that number to increase dramatically in the coming weeks.

Representatives from Intuitive Surgical are currently training more surgeons at Sparrow Hospital to use the technology.

Yousif said the system wasn't that difficult to learn, but it took a lot of practice.

"The learning curve is kind of steep initially," he said.

The da Vinci was originally approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 and has since been approved for seven different surgeries. Sparrow Hospital hopes to expand its use to cardiac surgery, Lux said.

The da Vinci offers several advantages to surgeons, including magnified views of hard-to-see surgical areas and added control.

The da Vinci allows surgeons to be more precise and eliminates hand tremors by scaling and filtering their movements, said Jeff McLoughlin, a spokesman for Intuitive Surgical.

The robotic arms cannot operate without input from the surgeon. The system responds to the surgeon's movements in real time, processing them about 30,000 times per second and filtering deliberate movements from unintentional ones, McLoughlin said.

"I've heard laparoscopic surgery described as like signing your name with a 2-foot pencil," McLoughlin said. "It takes that level of expertise away."

The hospital purchased the technology because of its advantages for patients, Lux said. The smaller incisions result in less pain, less recovery time and smaller scars, he said.

Yousif and Lux both said the da Vinci would attract patients to the hospital.

"It's great," Yousif said. "It's the only one in Mid-Michigan that will draw some patients from up north or west."

Yousif and Lux said robotic-assisted surgeries are gaining popularity.

"Everyone can see the advantages of it," Lux said. "You can really see where this is going to be the new wave of surgery."