New Directions for Robotic Surgery
Executive Summary
Medical robotics has changed dramatically since the 1980s, when neurosurgeons first used a robot to precisely hold a fixture during brain surgery. Advances in computer image processing, surgical imaging technologies, techniques for registering surgical images, modeling, mechatronics, surgical simulation, and human-robot interaction have opened the door for emerging technologies that will have an increasing impact on growth in this market for many years to come.