Robotics The Rising Views

Humans have constantly improved the techniques they use. Right from stone age to computer age, we have witnessed new techniques and technology improving different aspects of our lives. Similarly, our present medical practice and surgical techniques have also undergone a plethora of changes. As and when these techniques have debuted on the Western horizon, India has been quite eager to adopt it. Therefore, when robotics landed on the Indian soil, it was expected that it would soon become a popular surgery. It was predicted that surgical robotics were on the cusp of revolutionising surgical deliveries. However, after the initial surge, there was a lot of scepticism and negligible activity has been seen in this field. High cost may be a major factor for this downslide, but there are other factors too, which have stunted the growth of robotic surgery in India.
However, since the technology is still evolving, one can always expect better systems in future, which will change the way surgery is looked at today.

Robotics in surgery
Computer-controlled diagnostic instruments have been in use for years in the OT providing vital information through ultrasound, computer-aided tomography (CT) and various other imaging technologies. However, robotic systems have made inroads into the operating room only recently, as dexterity-enhancing surgical assistants and surgical planners. The need for automation arose from the demands for highly sophisticated procedures with very small instrumentation. It was in no way meant to replace the human surgeon; on the contrary it was developed as an additional help to assist the surgeon and enhance his skills. According to
Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Director of Robotic and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, The University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, USA, “Robotics is a powered computer-controlled manipulator with artificial sensing that can be reprogrammed to move and position tools, to carry out a range of surgical tasks. This translates into better efficiency and higher benefit for the patient.”
Initially, there were many companies trying to introduce prototypes of functional robots. Among these, California-based Computer Motion Inc., Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS) and Intuitive Surgical Inc. introduced viable systems, which gained popularity in the surgical circuits. Some of these robots are…
Aesop: Incidentally, the history of robotics in surgery dates back to 1993, when Computer Motion Inc. made their first product Aesop, a robotic system used for holding an endoscopic camera in minimal invasive laparoscopic surgery. Designed to overcome the problem of hand tremors, this third arm of surgeons was operated by foot pedals. The product was the first surgical visual aid robotic device certified by the FDA. It was further developed but did not gain much popularity with the new users, as it was difficult to manoeuvre. The evolved versions of Aesop, Aesop 2000 to Aesop HR had innovative additions to enhance the usability of the product.
Zeus: Zeus robotic surgical system from Computer Motion Inc. had three robotic arms attached on the side of the operation table to control surgical instruments. In fact, the evolved versions of Zeus had micro joints designed to hold 28 different instruments including scalpels, hooks to tie knots, scissors and dissector. The system was designed for minimally invasive microsurgery procedures, such as beating heart and endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting (E-CABG) and initiated more complex procedures like a mitral valve surgery IDE study. Further, Zeus robotic system brought new reliability and steadiness to these procedures.
Hermes: Another Computer Motion Inc. product, which needs to be mentioned, is the Hermes, which is used to connect all the intelligent tools in the operating room. It is a centralised networking platform