Abstract: A surgical mechanism control system comprising: a beam emitter unit configured to emit only a single beam and adapted to be attached to a surgeon; a first pair of discrete beam detectors each adapted to detect an incident beam emitted by the beam emitter unit and output a corresponding control signal when in incident beam is detected; and a control unit configured to receive one or more control signals output by the beam detectors and control a surgical mechanism in accordance with the one or more control signals.

Abstract: A surgical tool for use as an ablation device in a surgical operation including: an ablation module output configured to ablate a volume of material at a surgical site to form an ablated volume; a control module arranged to receive information indicative of the position of the surgical site; and a fluid output adapted to deliver fluid to the surgical site during a surgical operation such that at least part of the ablated volume is filled with fluid and the fluid is in direct contact with at least part of the surgical site. The control module is operable to control the flow rate of fluid delivered by the fluid output in response to the received information in order to control the position of the surgical site.

Abstract: A surgical tool support device includes an arm. The arm includes a flexible tubular main body; and a plurality of beads contained within the tubular main body. In a first configuration, a fluid at least partially surrounds the plurality of beads. In a second configuration, at least some of the fluid is evacuated such that the rigidity of the arm is increased.