No abstract

Medical robots offer new standards and opportunities for treatment. This paper presents a review of the literature and market information on the current situation and future perspectives for the applications of robots in cardiac surgery. Currently in the United States, only 10% of thoracic surgical procedures are conducted using robots, while globally this value remains below 1%. Cardiac and thoracic surgeons use robotic surgical systems increasingly often. The goal is to perform more than one hundred thousand minimally invasive robotic surgical procedures every year. A surgical robot can be used by surgical teams on a rotational basis. The market of surgical robots used for cardiovascular and lung surgery was worth 72.2 million dollars in 2014 and is anticipated to reach 2.2 billion dollars by 2021. The analysis shows that Poland should have more than 30 surgical robots. Moreover, Polish medical teams are ready for the introduction of several robots into the field of cardiac surgery. We hope that this market will accommodate the Polish Robin Heart robots as well.

Smart laparoscope device was developed and integrated into the ROBIN HEART surgery robot system. Miniaturised silicon based force sensors were developed and integrated into laparoscope tweezers for the special applications. Different sensors were applied to detect tactile information at the tip of the laparoscope and to measure the clamping force between the tweezers. Preliminary tests were accomplished to evaluate the force and tactile signals of the integrated sensors during interventions. Tactile measurements were implemented on artificial and real animal tissues to prove the applicability of the device for biomechanical screening during Minimal Invasive Surgery.

Smart laparoscope device was developed and integrated into the ROBIN HEART surgery robot system. Miniaturised silicon based force sensors were developed and integrated into laparoscope tweezers for the special applications. Different sensors were applied to detect tactile information at the tip of the laparoscope and to measure the clamping force between the tweezers. Preliminary tests were accomplished to evaluate the force and tactile signals of the integrated sensors during interventions. Tactile measurements were implemented on artificial and real animal tissues to prove the applicability of the device for biomechanical screening during Minimal Invasive Surgery.