Robotic technology

Abstract

Robotic surgery is an evolving and exciting field. We discuss the history of robotics in general and its introduction into medicine. Specific details of robotics in urology then follow with an introduction to the available systems. The chapter then concentrates on the da Vinci system which is currently the unchallenged master-slave platform. Comparisons between first and second generations of the da Vinci robot are made and improvements such as the 3DHD vision and Tile Pro are highlighted. Finally, there is a brief overview of telerobotics and telemedicine and a glimpse into the future of nanorobotics. © 2008 Springer-Verlag London.