Researchers are hoping to develop a minuscule device that could treat conditions such as spina bifida in unborn children.
The £10million project aims to create a surgical robot hand which could allow a foetus with a congenital condition to have surgery while still in the womb.
The project is being funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, with the research being carried out by engineers at University College London and KU Leuven in Belgium.
Figures show that one in every 1,000 babies are born with myelomeningocele spina bifida, which is caused when the spine does not form properly.
Researchers hope to develop a pincer, with a miniature camera, which could be inserted into the mother’s womb.
They hope it would then be able to insert patches over the gaps in the spine to treat the condition.
The instrument they aim to create will have 3D endoscopic imaging, which will give surgeons accurate detail of the foetus, Daily Mail informs.
