The Da Vinci surgical system

Abstract

In this chapter we describe the evolution of the da Vinci surgical system from the very early days of Intuitive Surgical, through to 2009. In order to provide context, we begin with a short summary of the origins of telerobotic surgery itself. This involves a unique convergence of technologies and clinical needs, as well as several groups of individuals who independently recognized the role that robotics and telepresence technologies could play in medicine. The regulatory landscape has played-and continues to play-an important role in the development and use of surgical devices such as da Vinci. In this chapter, we describe some of the important aspects of device regulation and how they affect the deployment of medical devices such as ours. It should be noted that this story is told from the Intuitive Surgical perspective and is not intended to be exhaustive. Nevertheless, we hope that it provides some insight into the unique process of invention and development that has resulted in a marriage of technology and medicine that benefits hundreds of patients each day. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.