Future: Robotics and remote surgery: Next step

Abstract

Telesurgery is still in its infancy and significant challenges pervade including technical aspects, surgical robotic platforms, cost-effectiveness, and mostly data transfer speed. The potential benefits of telesurgery have become clearer with telementoring programs, but the “niche” applications such as space missions and military projects would be the primer for further developments in the allocation of funds and in the attribution of highly specialized human resources. This chapter highlights some of the challenges and the stepwise approach required for the maturation of this futuristic field.