NeuroArm includes two remote detachable manipulators on a mobile base, a workstation and a system control cabinet.
Telerobotic operations both inside and outside the magnet are performed using specialized tool sets based on standard neurosurgical instruments, adapted to the end effectors.
Dr. Sutherland and his group established a collaboration with the Canadian space engineering company MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA).
[5] Close collaboration between MDA's robotic engineers and University of Calgary physicians, nurses, and scientists contributed to the design and development of NeuroArm.
[7] MDA's engineers were immersed in the operating room to study typical tool and surgeon motions in order to use biomimicry for effective design of the computer-assisted surgical device.
Pre-planned automatic motions are used to move the robot arms away from the patient's head for manual tool exchange, and then return them to the original position and orientation.