Surgical Robotics: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The evolution of robots in surgical practice is an intriguing story that spans cultures, continents and centuries. The idea of reproducing himself with the use of a mechanical robot has been in man’s imagination in the last 3000 years. However, the use of robots in medicine has only 30 years of history. Surgery has traditionally required larger incisions to allow the surgeon to introduce his hands into the body and to allow sufficient light to see the structures being operated on. Surgeon directly touched and felt the tissues and moved the tip of the instruments. However, innovations have radically changed the performance of surgical procedures in operating room by digitization, miniaturization, improved optics, novel imaging techniques, and computerized information systems. These surgical procedures can be done by manipulating instruments from outside the patient, by looking at displays of direct electronic images of the target organs on the monitor. The robot completes the transition to the Information Age. The surgeon is immersed in this computer-generated environment (called “virtual reality,” term coined by Jaron Lanier, 1986) and sends electronic signals from the joysticks of the console to the tip of the instruments, which mimic the surgeon’s hand movements [1].