Chinese scientists have made progress in their research on the active obstacle avoidance of continuum robots, a development that has the potential to elevate the intelligence of robot-assisted surgeries. The research was conducted by a team led by Liu Hao, a researcher at the Shenyang Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Zhang Zhongtao's team at the Beijing Friendship Hospital, which is affiliated with the Capital Medical University. The findings have been published online in the International Journal of Robotics Research.