Enter the robot-controlled palpating device: With cows' livers standing in for human tissue and one cm and half cm blobs of glue wrapped in wire representing tumours, the researchers compared palpation by surgeons, non-surgeons and the robot in the blinded trials.

Accuracy in detecting the tumours was far greater with the robot -- between 59 and 90 percent depending on the robot control method used for palpation.

Unlike humans, the robot applies consistent force in each step, and moves over the tissue systematically. This produces a complete map, equivalent to one large pad applying ideal levels of force to the whole sample, similar to tactile sensors that have been developed to detect breast tumours.

These findings were published in the International Journal of Robotics Research.