Where are the days of Da Vinci? Where are the great inspiring works that advance mankind wth great leaps and afford kings voctories and conquests?

Well, who knows, let us check out developments in the area of surgical robotics, shall we, dear reader?

Da Vinci by Intuitive

Where else to start but at the most famous surgical robot system in the world: the Da Vinci robot. Made by a company called Intuitive, who have the following claim:

“Intuitive advances minimally invasive care by helping physicians and their teams optimize care delivery to support the best outcomes possible. For nearly three decades we’ve created products and services born of inspiration and intelligence.”

They are up to Da Vinci 5 now (upgrade from the Da Vinci Xi) which looks amazing on their website and on YouTube, with plenty of new features; force feedback, 3D vision, etc.

My impression was that in many countries, robotic surgery was something of a hype a few years ago, in the sense that hospitals felt they needed to have it in their arsenal because it was something patients looked for. However, the outcomes of surgery were not demonstrably better than those with regular surgery or laparoscopic surgery for many procedures, while the costs were higher. So, for many procedures robotic surgery was not actually the preferred method. However, I do believe that in recent years additional robotic systems have been created by various companies that may provide competition for Da Vinci (thus potentially lowering costs) and systems that focus on specific procedures thereby further optimizing outcomes. Let us look closer into that.

Competition and diversification

There is an interesting article from 2020 outlining the market and competitors here. It should be interesting to watch if some of the predictions in that article were right and how the various competing products are doing in the market.

hinotori™ Robotic Assisted Surgery System

Versius Surgical Robotic System

A more modular system. Versius by CMR Surgical.

Sentante

The first fully-robotic teleoperated system for endovascular interventions. Endovascular procedures performed remotely with uncompromised feedback force

Sentante is a teleoperated robotic system developed by Lithuanian company UAB Inovatyvi Medicina. It allows an endovascular intervention to be performed remotely, from a different room, so physicians and the entire medical team can work without being exposed to harmful X-ray radiation.

Hugo™ robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system

From the company Medtronic.

The robotic-assisted surgery device that gives you more choice. As the first soft tissue surgical company with open, laparoscopic, robotic, and digital solutions — giving you more choice is central to everything we do.

Sources for more information

• Surgical Robotics Technology – a website
• Video on the difference between traditional, laparoscopic and robotic surgery