TRENDS IN SURGICAL ROBOTICS

Surgical Robotics today is essentially about two families of devices, namely telemanipulators and simulators for mini-invasive (endoscopic) procedures. In both cases, the user-interface, i.e. the "joystick" to be manipulated by the surgeon is one of the key elements. Today's commercial telemanipulators still rely almost exclusively on visual feedback only. Some surgery training simulators already have haptic (or force-) feedback. It is only a question of time until most surgical robots will have haptic feedback. In this contribution, we describe trends of surgical robotics with special emphasis on the possibilities and the significance of haptic man-machine interface. Potential synergies with cognitive neuroscience are highlighted.