Advancing Medical Intervention through Robotic Technologies

Over the past decade, medical robotic technologies have crossed the chasm that lies between laboratory bench-top prototypes and commercial products, and made a significant clinical impact to the field of medical intervention such as the Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci robots. Through the adoption of these technologies, a synergetic union of surgeon and robot has established and helped surgeons to overcome many limitations of the traditional treatment.  Next-generation medical robotic systems are now on the horizon and can significantly extend surgeons' ability to plan and carry out medical interventions more accurately and less invasively.

In this talk, we will review the background of the surgical robot, its present capabilities, limitations, and acceptance.  We will present some of our research efforts to extend the boundaries of medical intervention through advanced sensing, robotic technology, control algorithms, and AI.  We will also share some of the unique challenges in taking research concepts and prototypes toward medical products in a highly regulated healthcare industry.