Developing New Robots for Surgery: What are the Challenges Ahead

It has been 15 years since the introduction of a "robotic" platform into laparoscopic surgery. Although the term robotic surgery was coined early in the experience, the daVinci surgical robot is not a robot but a master-slave manipulator. It has many features that facilitate laparoscopic surgery and many add on benefits, but after 15 years of robotic surgery, the surgical community is now looking forward to a true robotic platform designed specifically for complex laparoscopic surgery with the added challenge of making fewer and smaller incisions. Several new robotic platforms for laparoscopy are being developed and will be presented. The true needs from the future robotic platform that can manipulate tissue, preserve a clean image that will follow automatically the surgeons movements and have some automatic function will be discussed.