Robotic surgery is the latest and greatest tool in the OR.
In many cases, it means smaller incisions and quicker recovery times.
Until recently, it was primarily used for adults.
Now, robotic arms are working their surgical magic on a new set of smaller patients, and they are now helping doctors save children's lives.
Some of the best of days in the Umana household turned into the worst.
"It happened on Thanksgiving. It happened on her birthday. On Christmas. Her fever would go up to 105 and she would just go into a seizure," explained Martha Umana.
Martha's daughter, Kaila suffered from a condition called hydronephrosis, an obstruction of the urinary track, which can cause chronic kidney infections.
The only cure is surgery.
Luckily, this robot, named the Da Vinci, helped doctors operates more precisely and less invasively on Kaila's tiny body.
They move the robot's arms with a controller, using a telescopic lens as a guide.
"We would require about a five-inch incision in the abdomen. Now the surgery is done using two small incisions about a dime each in size and one small incision in the belly button," explained Dr. Waldo Feng.
The robotic surgery means children go home with their parents sooner.
"It was like the best thing because she was only in the hospital about two days," says Martha.
Children as young as five-months-old have successfully undergone robotic surgery.
The Da Vinci is also used to operate on children's kidneys, esophagus and lungs.
With a quicker recovery, Kaila is back to what is important, being a kid.
Researchers are working to develop robots that can operate on a beating heart, while a baby is still in utero.
And delicately perform precise brain surgeries in areas where a surgeon's tools cannot fit.
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