Surgical and Interventional Robotics

The surgical robots development is motivated by the desire to:
• Enhance the effectiveness of a procedure by information coupling to the action in the interventional suite or operating room.
• Transcend human physical limitations in performing surgery and other interventional procedures, while still affording human control over the procedure.

Two decades after reported the first robotic surgical procedure, surgical robotics now are being widely used in the interventional suite or operating room. Surgical robots are beginning to realize their potential in terms of improved visualization and accuracy, as well as enabling of new procedures.

Recently robots used in surgery are under the direct control of surgeon, often in a tele-operation scenario in which a human operator manipulates a master input device and patient side robots follows the inputs. Robots allow the surgeon to have dexterity inside the body, scale down operator motions from normal human dimensions to very small distances, and provide a very intuitive connection between the operator and the instrument tips, in contrast to traditional minimally invasive surgery.

The surgeon can cut, suture and cauterize with accuracy equal to or better than that previously available during only very invasive open surgery. A complete surgical workstation contains both real time imaging devices and robotic devices. The next surgical workstation generation will provide a wide variety of computer and physical enhancements, such as “no fly” zones around delicate anatomical structures, seamless displays that can place amounts of relevant data in surgeon’s field of view, and recognition of surgical motions and patient state to evaluate performance and predict health outcomes.

Many medical procedures can be planned ahead of time and executed in a reasonably predictable manner if the right information is available. By analogy to industrial manufacturing systems, this model is often referred to as “Surgical CAD/CAM” (Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing).