Robotics in Plastic Surgery

Abstract

It is my privilege to guest edit this issue of Seminars in Plastic Surgery, dedicated to the topic of robotic applications in plastic surgery. Originally, robotic surgical research was funded by NASA and the military to facilitate remote operations in forward areas and near-space, where surgical subspecialists are in short supply. It turned out that these remote applications were not immediately practical, and the technology was licensed to Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale, CA), maker of the DaVinci, for minimally invasive, on-site surgery. The company designed the first generation surgical robot for minimally invasive cardiac surgery.