Latest Innovations in Robotic Surgery

Alex D'Souza, Medical Tech Outlook | Thursday, May 06, 2021

Microrobots have contained propulsion, the accuracy of telemanipulation, consistent imaging, and miniaturized functionality.

FREMONT, CA: Medical robotics has been in use for about 30 years. Robotic surgery is radical by several surgeons who value it for its various advantages, both real and potential. Today, gall bladders are regularly removed by a surgeon on one continent from a patient on another, harnessing robotic telesurgery. Voice-activation of robotic arms and haptic feedback provides surgeons the command they seek over the surgical procedure itself.

Minimally invasive surgery is hindered by the loss of touch- and force-related sensations, which are vital in deciding the accuracy of surgical operations. Dexterity of movement is restricted by the natural limitation of the instrument, which has only four degrees of motion, unlike the human hand, which has seven. Physiological tremors are also quickly carried into the operating field by the rigid laparoscopic instrument. As telesurgery became an area of research at the National Air and Space Administration Ames Research Center, surgical robotics start to innovate dramatically.

Like the da Vinci system, the active medical robots, an innovative master-slave system, with several robotic arms or manipulators managed remotely by a surgeon from a console. These systems leverage miniaturized operating arms, unlike the one-centimeter surgical arms of the Puma 560, limiting the requirement to retract the sides of the incision. The Endo-Wrist features of the functioning arms also offer seven degrees of freedom. Newer systems leverage ergonomically superior open consoles rather than the closed ones of the da Vinci.

Conventional systems like the da Vinci pivot about the insertion trocar, limiting dexterous management of the tools and may cause unintentional harm to adjacent vital structures. The size and cost of these systems is prohibitive in most cases to the routine adoption of robotic surgery. The latest robots are constructed of soft and deformable materials. The use of biocompatible soft materials, superelastic materials, and 3D-printed soft plastics like silicon elastomers enable greater safety.