For patients, robotics-assisted surgery has provided many benefits including smaller scars, less pain, and faster recoveries. Surgeons, too, have benefited from greater visualization and enhanced precision. For these reasons, and more, robotics-assisted surgeries are becoming increasingly common worldwide, with both the number of surgeries and the range of procedures increasing rapidly.
For all of their successes, the practice of robotics-assisted surgery faces a number of challenges that must be addressed for the practice to become more widespread. In this RoboBusiness Direct session, the current state of robotics-assisted surgery, along with a forecast of future advances, will be described. Special emphasis will be placed on the key limitations of existing systems, and essential requirements (opportunities) going forward:
• Better visualization
• Enhanced precision
• Increased dexterity
• Improved haptic feedback
• Smaller form factors
• More intelligence
• Lower cost solutions
• Additional procedures
• And more
