 BY ADAM DAIGLE | Acadiana Business Editor As Dr. Safi Haq sat behind the controls of Our Lady of Lourdes' newest robotic surgical system, the cardiothoracic surgeon kept murmuring exclamations like 'cool' and 'wow.' Sure, playing with robots is fun — but for this surgeon, the regional medical center's updated Intuitive Da Vinci 5 machine is definitely not a toy. It's simply an extremely precise piece of medical technology that's going to make his job a little easier — and yes, it's pretty cool. It is a robot, after all. According to Haq, robots are now commonly used in thoracic surgeries, which involve opening the chest cavity and working on the heart and lungs. Equipped with powerful cameras, flexible robotic arms and even AI machine learning, Haq was impressed at the way the machine lets him handle sensitive procedures, while decreasing the potential for patient injury. You can read the full story here. | 
