Safe active robotic devices for surgery

When comparing current applications of robots with the use of surgical robotic devices it can be appreciated that a key difference is that the device cannot be separated from surgeon or patient to complete the task. This direct interaction has dramatic implications for the design of such systems. This paper considers examples of robotic devices applied to different surgical tasks that illustrate the issues of intrinsically safe design and passive and active systems. The paper concludes by focusing on a task which is particularly hazardous-the task of using an active multilink robotic device within the patient's body. To the author's knowledge nobody has conducted trials of this nature on a living patient, because the safety and ethical issues, and the technology, have not yet been adequately proven.<
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