Surgical Robot

A surgical robot is a robotic system used to perform surgery, developed to overcome the physical limits of minimally invasive procedures and to give surgeons steadier, more precise control during open surgery as well. The best-known type, a telemanipulator such as the da Vinci Surgical System, lets a surgeon operate from a separate console using remote manipulators that translate hand movements into scaled, tremor-filtered micro-movements of robotic arms inserted through small incisions, guided by magnified three-dimensional vision; a second, less common approach has a surgeon direct robotic arms through computer commands rather than direct manipulation, opening the door to remote or computer-assisted procedures performed without the surgeon in the room. An early system called Arthrobot was first used in surgery in Vancouver in 1983, a robotic arm assisted with a brain biopsy in 1985, and the da Vinci system received United States Food and Drug Administration approval in 2000, becoming the first operative surgical robot approved in the country.