Robotic surgery

Article By:

van den Bedem, L. J. M. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Naus, G. J. L. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Steinbuch, M. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Last reviewed:March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.591400

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• Robotic surgery, published June 2012:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

A type of minimally invasive surgery in which a surgeon remotely operates miniaturized surgical instruments mounted on manipulator arms; also known as robot-assisted surgery. A surgical robot is a teleoperated device (that is, a device with a controller interface and a remote manipulator) that has a three-dimensional imaging camera (endoscope). The surgeon operates the controller interface, which directs the remote manipulator during surgery. Surgeons use robots to enhance their working conditions for some types of surgery, such as the removal of the prostate gland. The most widely used commercially available medical robot is the da Vinci® Surgical System from Intuitive Surgical. It is used for cardiac, colorectal, gynecological, head and neck, thoracic, urologic, and general surgery. To illustrate robotic surgery, however, we will discuss the Sofie (Surgeon's operating force-feedback interface Eindhoven) system. It is a next-generation system being developed to provide surgeons with a virtual sense of touch called haptic feedback (Fig. 1). See also: Remote manipulators; Robotics; Surgery

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