To test STAR’s performance the researchers recruited surgeons to perform the identical procedure on pig intestines using three thee methods: hand-sewn sutures, laparoscopy and the robot-assisted da Vinci Surgical system approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 200. According to the researchers, STAR outperformed these other techniques in terms of ideal spacing between sutures-and this enabled the STAR-repaired intestine to withstand nearly twice as much pressure before leaking, compared with the intestines sutured manually.