South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) has announced the arrival of the 'Da Vinci X' surgical robot.

The robot will offer patients a minimally invasive alternative to surgery, meaning shorter hospital stays and faster recovery times.

With the Da Vinci X also expected to take on a significant portion of demanding tasks, surgeries will become less physically challenging for consultants and therefore help prolong their careers.

It has two main components, the 'robot' itself which is called the 'Patient Cart', and the 'Surgeon Console'. The 'Patient Cart' is attached to surgical ports placed into the abdomen by the surgeon, and then controlled via fibre-optic cabling and the 'Surgeon Console'.

The console translates all of the hand movements the surgeon makes into more steady, finer movements by the robot within the patient.

It will be used for hundreds of patients ever year and assist specialities such as colorectal, upper GI, general surgery, gynaecology and urology.

Local primary school children were also given the chance to name the machine.

The winning name, a suggestion from Clapham Terrace Community Primary School's Year 6 class, is: P.A.B.L.O (P = Providing A = and B = Benefiting L = Life Changing O = Operations).

This name was chosen as it reflects SWFT's ambitions for the surgical robot.

Henry Ferguson, colorectal consultant at SWFT, said: "I am proud to have been given the opportunity to train as the first 'Da Vinci X' Robotic Surgeon at SWFT.

"Having performed a number of robotic operations already, my patients have benefitted first hand from this exciting technological innovation, enabling them to recover swiftly and achieve excellent results from their bowel cancer surgery.

"I am looking forward to helping further surgical teams integrate robotic surgery into their practice in the departments of General Surgery, Gynaecology and Urology, so that the robotic programme can benefit as many patients as possible across south Warwickshire."