Flickstop - infographics on the SoA of surgical robotics

 A nice piece of work from HUG, a State of the Art in Surgical Robotics was published (in French) recently, by Lucien Blondel et al. 

It is an impressive work, while it has still some inaccuracies...

"The first experiments in robotic surgery took place in the 1980s using systems imported from the industrial sector. From the 1990s, equipment dedicated to medicine began to emerge. These developments have followed the evolutions of surgical disciplines and the technological revolutions of the 21st century by trying to converge. For 20 years, the number of equipment has been constantly increasing due to the growing adherence to assistance systems and the diversity of the specialties concerned. Due to its generic definition which designates the repetitive and automatic machine work of a task without human adaptation, the term “robotics” is very widespread and used in medical or surgical applications. This term is also often the subject of medical and/or marketing controversy. We will therefore prefer the term "automation and assistance techniques for surgical gestures" (TAAC), that is to say equipment allowing to increase the precision, the repeatability, the resolution, the miniaturization, the data collected, the control and the effort, while being in perpetual interaction with the surgical act. The process of choosing and introducing these high-tech systems, in the complex environment of the hospital, must be the subject of a structured and complete methodological approach, without neglecting the subjectivity or irrationality of any strategic decision. It is therefore essential that the decision to invest globally in a technique is not just a matter of fashion, a marketing choice or a simple financial analysis. The results will then be specific to each establishment and to their human, technical and financial capacities. Indeed, there is a high risk of having a device little or badly used, which complicates the act instead of improving it and potentially at risk. Above all, the establishment must ensure that ƒ The orientation or the technological choice is in line with the surgical activities concerned and the needs of its patients, with objective clinical analyzes allowing the development and sustainability of new surgical techniques, ƒ Training are suitable for use. All the employees concerned directly or indirectly must be correctly and regularly trained on the device (surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, instrumentalists, technicians, service providers such as sterilization and logistics, etc.), ƒ The organization and the care environment of the patient, in particular that of the operating theaters, are able to accommodate this technological equipment in a suitable technical platform (data, architecture, table and accessories, storage, availability, vacations, etc.)." 

Source: LinkedIn