Robots doing Surgery?

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DateRobots Doing Surgery
Introduction and Description of the Topic
The application of robots in surgery is a fresh and thrilling evolving technology that is taking the medical field by storm. So far, however, the efforts to obtain and integrate this technology has mainly been motivated by the market. Additionally, most medical centers aspiring to be recognized for their excellence in slightly invasive surgery have used surgical robots as their entry fee, even though it currently lacks practical applications. Therefore, robots seem to play more marketing function than their actual purpose. Whether or not the tasks of medical robots will become more feasible is yet to be seen (Lanfranco 14).
This article aims to develop an objective assessment of this technology and to highlight some of the focuses that are not readily disclosed by robot manufacturers. This writing will explain in details the evolution and development of robotic surgery, the current robot systems, discuss the current roles played by robots in operation, different schools of thoughts on the topic, and eventually the look at the probable future functions of robotic surgery. Even though there are several applications of robots, the medical use remains the best industry that will fully exhaust the innovative designs. Possibilities of the future medical care getting better are entirely dependent on robotic intervention. The success will depend on how useful the robots are in the medicinal field.

Also addressed in this article, are the key advantages of robotic surgery such as minimal invasion, precision, and the reduction of the human impact factors during surgical operations. Other significant benefits of this technique in medicine include negligible painfulness after surgical operations, accelerated recovery and minimal postoperative care, reduced wound infection risk, lessened blood transfusion demands, improved cosmetic results as a result of the absence of significant scars formed after surgery, negligible complication risks related to traditional surgical procedures, and the elimination of the surgeon infection risk. As seen above, research on surgical robots and the application of the same technique in curative surgery would be of great benefit to both the health sector and its stakeholders (Lanfranco 14).
Background
Robotic Surgery History
The existence of robotic surgery dates back to the 1980s when a neurosurgical biopsy was first performed using a robotic surgical arm. Two years down the line, the first laparoscopic operation, a cholecystectomy, was conducted by a robot. The years that followed saw constant advances in robotic surgery technology, which was used to perform an increasing variety of surgical operations. One of the original system to be used in robotic surgery was the ROBODOC system whose existence in the market began in the early 1990s, allowing surgeons to conduct femur hip replacements with highest possible precision (Hockstein 114).
The primary driver of research related to robotic surgery in this era was the United States’ Army and the NASA’s interest in the idea of remote medicine, that is, a neurosurgeon conducting an operation on a patient even without being in physical contact with him/her. This concept was fascinating to the Army, as it could potentially lessen wartime deaths by rapidly providing medical attention to the wounded militia without necessarily having to deploy medical personnel to the dangerous battlefields. Currently, the United States Army is developing the concept of “Trauma Pods,” treatment facilities without staff where injured soldiers could get medical attention while in war zones from medical staff working remotely.
Currently, there exist several unsolved issues relating to remote surgery, for instance, the situation that the medical personnel cannot feel the patient physically, and the necessity to prevent the incidence of time-lapses occurring between the surgeon’s movement and the robot’s response, even though significant improvements have been made. The first remote surgical operation is done in the transatlantic, was performed in 2001, in which New York surgeons conducted a remote cholecystectomy on an individual located in France.
Da Vinci Robot
According to daily private medical care, the da Vinci Robot is regarded among the most significant developments in the robotic surgery field, that was approved by the FDA in 2000 for the general use in the laparoscopic surgery and has led to immense growth in the application of robot-aided surgery in daily medical care. Da Vinci is a comprehensive surgical system that comprises of both visual aids and surgical devices. It has many power-driven arms linked to surgical instruments and an extra arm on which a camera has been mounted. As opposed to traditional surgery where the doctor has to stand beside the operation table, the specialist has a computer console which he/she uses to control the arms of the machine, directed by the surgical area image (Hockstein 114).
Controversy
Nevertheless, robot-aided surgery has its critics. Some doctors have questioned its efficiency, especially concerning the fact that it is much costly compared to the conventional surgical procedures. An indication of the dominance of the robots in surgery is not yet clear, for instance, Columbia University researchers published a study in 2013 indicating that adnexal surgery performed using robots is linked to a little higher complication risks than the traditional laparoscopic operation. Also, the costs involved are high compared to the original investments. For instance, a da Vinci robot costs approximately $2000,000, with other expenses brought about by disposable surgical equipment. Robot-aided gallbladder removal procedure is estimated to cost roughly thrice the cost of conventional operation. Robotic surgery critics maintain that the new technology does not guarantee better medical services and urge individuals not to be lured by its possible benefits.
One critical point in efficiently using robot-aided surgery is ensuring that the medical personnel handling the equipment are sufficiently trained. Studies have established that the readmission and complication rates, as well as the patient’s duration of stay in medical facilities, is dependent on the surgeon’s experience with robotic surgery. Additionally, it is vital that medicinal robots are applied only in circumstances where the clinical benefit is evident, since the method may not be suitable for all surgical procedures. Apart from issues concerning the pre-eminence of robot-assisted surgery, other concerns have also arisen. Notably, there are issues relating to the vulnerability of the robotic systems to computer hacking. Washington University researchers carried out a test on a remote surgical facility and established that they were able to penetrate the system.
Objectives
This article proposes a robot-aided surgical system that overcomes both time-lapse difference and the internet vulnerability that makes the system penetrable by system hackers. It is made up of a secondary robot arm incorporated with a wireless controller that seeks to eliminate the root of collisions as a result of miscommunication or tiredness and the specialist by enabling the doctor to regulate the assistant device. Also, a wireless regulator is created to simultaneously regulate the arm of the operating machine and the sleeve of the associate robot, thereby avoiding discontinuity during a surgical procedure (Rao 6).
Plan and Methods
The arm of the assistant robot comprises a surgical device and a 6-DOFs exterior robot arm created from the concept of Surgical Operation by Wire (SOBW). The idea originated from the fly-by-wire (FBW) system as used in the aerospace engineering, where the wing is controlled by electrical wired as opposed to mechanical ones for consistent control. The idea is applied in the field of medicine with the electrical strings replacing the robot’s electric lines. Therefore, all movements of the arm of the projected assistant robot, the surgical sleeve and the outer robot arm included, are stimulated by electrical stimulators which are the micromotor and the and the current servo motors (Horgan 417).
Moreover, the pitching and yawning movements are eliminated from the surgical device since they are not crucial for the functioning of quick motions. The proposed robot’s diameter is 6mm. The size is smaller compared to the widespread use da Vinci robot’s 8mm endo-wrist. The translational, rolling, and fulcrum point movements of the robot are done by the 6-DOFs exterior arm. The gripping action is realized by translating the micromotor’s rotational movement into translational force using the female and male screws, while the female one is connected to the gripper. Subsequently, the gripping motion can be regulated through the adjustment of the micromotor position (Horgan 417).
Among the subjects to be researched in more detail for my final paper is the surgical instrument’s durability, which must be verified through durability tests were done several times. In the past studies, a da Vinci research kit (dVRK), was used in the place of a robot system’s arm. Interfaces such as the NMI, one wireless communication should be established to prevent the medical specialist from stopping the operating arm of the robot to manipulate the assistant arm. The NMI is dependent on the HOTAS controller, mostly applied in flight control for aerospace. In this research, a wireless microprocessor and a multi-way switch should be employed when reflecting the decision of the surgeon (Horgan 417).
Furthermore, the NMI to be established should be reasonably small so that it can easily be attached to dVRK system’s MTMs to ease the surgeon’s access when working on the MTMs. The latency, accuracy, and the consumption of power by the created NMI should be substantiated through repetitive experiments. Light peg tasks should also be performed using the assistant arm of the robot system to assess the applicability of the suggested secondary machine arm system. Additionally, an in vitro examination of semiautomatic resected body removal should be performed using the dVRK and the proposed order to inspect the proposed system performance. Most attention should be paid to the measurements of the instruments to be used (Horgan 417).
The results should be an indication that the suggested robot system for surgery can be efficiently used in laparoscopic robot-aided surgery.
Concussion
Robot-aided laparoscopic surgery is a highly desirable surgical procedure since it bears numerous benefits compared to the conventional MIS and the open surgery. Nevertheless, a key concern with robot-assisted surgery has been the impact of the assistant instrument and the operating arm of the robot. Subsequently, this writing proposes an associate system for the robot that could be operated simultaneously by the doctor through a wireless regulator.
Works Cited
Hockstein, Neil G., et al. “A history of robots: from science fiction to surgical robotics.” Journal of robotic surgery 1.2 (2007): 113-118.
Horgan, Santiago, and Daniel Vanuno. “Robots in laparoscopic surgery.” Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques 11.6 (2001): 415-419.
Lanfranco, Anthony R., et al. “Robotic surgery: a current perspective.” Annals of surgery 239.1 (2004): 14.
Rao, Prashanth P., Pradeep P. Rao, and Sonali Bhagwat. “Single-incision laparoscopic surgery-current status and controversies.” Journal of minimal access surgery 7.1 (2011): 6.