New robots – cost, connectivity and artificial intelligence

摘要

The amazing da Vinci® surgical system (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA), is about to face some market competition from other international companies with their own versions of next generation robots 1. In order to challenge the current ‘gold standard’, these systems will need to be at least as good if not better. The alternative is to be significantly cheaper, thus attracting a wider variety of institutions who could currently not afford the da Vinci. Open consoles, three-dimensional enhanced vision, lighter instruments, and greater portability will be recurring themes in these new systems. There is even some renewed interest in automation that goes back to the days of John Wickham, who passed away just short of his 90th birthday (http://www.bjuinternational.com/bjui-blog/light-years-ahead-john-wickham-1927-2017/). The ‘Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot’ (STAR) can suture bowel better than a human hand in an animal model 2. The water-jet robot (Procept Biorobotics, Redwood City, CA, USA) takes inspiration from Wickham's PROBOT and may prove to be a viable alternative to TURP or holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP), but without the steep learning curve 3. The Revo-i, a Korean robot (Meerecompany Inc., Seongnam, Korea), has completed the first clinical testing in 17 patients undergoing Retzius-sparing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). It is an example of real-life reporting, where even in experienced hands, three patients underwent blood transfusion and the positive margin rate was 23% 4. One could speculate whether the approach itself or the adoption of a new robotic system reflected the results of this paper? Either way we can expect to see more such first-in-man reports over the coming years as new robots become available. These new machines have the potential to reduce the cost of robotic surgery to be similar to that of laparoscopy, although the initial hardware outlay may still be substantial. Cambridge Medical Robotics (CMR Surgical, Madingley, Cambridge, UK) has plans to introduce competitive cost models that cover maintenance, instruments, and even assistants as a comprehensive package. This may make robotics attractive to multidisciplinary expansion amongst high-volume open and laparoscopic surgeons. The two other aspects in the world of new robots that are causing excitement are artificial intelligence (AI) and faster digital communication. The concept of AI is not new, going back to genius of Alan Turing, who with his decoding skills had a major impact on the outcome of World War II. Machine learning (ML) is a subset of AI, using decision-making computer algorithms to grasp and respond to specific data. For example, a prostate recognition algorithm could make the machine learn whether a given image is that of a prostate cancer or not, thus reducing the variability in MRI readings by radiologists. The video recordings of surgeons performing RARP can now be converted through a ‘black box’ into automated performance metrics (APMs) and demonstrate paradoxical findings, in that not all high-volume surgeons are necessarily those with the best outcomes 5. With Google (Mountain View, CA, USA) moving into surgical robotics in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ, USA), data capture and ML are likely to hold promise for the future. The UK government amongst others has declared significant investment of >£1 billion in AI, with a view to engaging with new talent and remaining a world leader in this emerging field. Led by Dame Wendy Hall (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/growing-the-artificial-intelligence-industry-in-the-uk) this ambitious project outlines a vision of appointing new researchers from the UK and overseas in all forms of AI, whilst maintaining the sensitivities around data trust and ethics. However, a word of caution in that AI faces difficulty with reproducibility as a result of unpublished codes in >90% of articles written on the subject 6. Surgery may