To demonstrate the precision of its new Microsurgery Assistance Robot, Sony used the device to delicately stitch up a single kernel of corn. What that corn did to require stitches, I’m not sure, but I suspect it involved an accident with one of those spiked corn on the cob holders that’s shaped like a little corn on the cob itself. I can relate.

The prototype was developed by Sony’s R&D team for technology development to assist in microsurgical procedures for use in conjunction with a microscope, etc., to work on extremely small tissues, such as veins and nerves. The movements of the surgeons’ hands and fingers captured with a highly sensitive control device are replicated on a small surgical instrument that operates smoothly, akin to the movement of the human wrist.

The robot can be fitted with various appendages for different surgical uses, and can either replicate the movements made by a surgeon, or, for some procedures, operate autonomously. Would you let a robot operate on you autonomously? As much as I’m not a fan of robots, I would probably elect for robotic surgery over my own doctor’s hands. He’s…a liquid lunch kind of doctor. He recently poked me in the eye with a tongue depressor in the afternoon, so now I schedule all my appointments for first thing in the morning, including the follow-up to get my eye patch removed.