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A short history of the invasion of robots in surgery

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Hellenic Journal of Surgery

Abstract

The term ‘robot’ comes from the Czech word ‘robota’ which means forced labour, and it was first introduced by the Czech play writer Karel Capek in his fiction play “Rossum’s Universal Robots”. Initially, robots were used in the industry for hazardous tasks. Since 1985, they have invaded surgical practice, helping surgeons to perform delicate operations with precision. The passage from industrial robots to surgical robots was long. In this paper, the author makes a brief reference to the steps that were followed by the pioneers of the robotics in surgery up to the present day where the Da Vinci and Zeus are used in many fields of surgery such as general surgery, urology, ophthalmology, thoracic surgery etc.

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Correspondence to Michael L. Lorentziadis.

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Lorentziadis, M.L. A short history of the invasion of robots in surgery. Hellenic J Surg 86, 117–121 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-014-0112-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-014-0112-2

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