A review of the state-of-the-art of 'smart' systems in surgery

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a considerable transition in smart systems for surgery. Originally systems were devised primarily from large industrial robots. There has been a gradual transition towards sensor rich devices which are much simpler, lower-cost and devised for specific surgical tasks. The history of this development is considered together with examples, and the reasons for this gradual transition are discussed. Specific details are given of the Acrobot 'hands-on' robot for orthopaedic surgery, which is an example of the gradual evolution of a medical robot from a large industrial robot carrying a second robot as an end effector, to a small, low cost smart system for specific tasks.