Autonomous Surgical Robotics at Task and Subtask Levels

Abstract

The revolution of minimally invasive procedures had a significant influence on surgical practice, opening the way to laparoscopic surgery, then evolving into robotics surgery. Teleoperated master-slave robots, such as the da Vinci Surgical System, has become a standard of care during the last few decades, performing over a million procedures per year worldwide. Many believe that the next big step in the evolution of surgery is partial automation, which would ease the cognitive load on the surgeon, making them possible to pay more attention on the critical parts of the intervention. Partial and sequential introduction and increase of autonomous capabilities could provide a safe way towards Surgery 4.0. Unfortunately, autonomy in the given environment, consisting mostly of soft organs, suffers from grave difficulties. In this chapter, the current research directions of subtask automation in surgery are to be presented, introducing the recent advances in motion planning, perception, and human-machine interaction, along with the limitations of the task-level autonomy.

Surgery in the Next Space Missions

“…With regard to artificial intelligence, the definition of autonomy is "the ability to perform the intended tasks based on the current state and detection without human intervention". The International Organization for Standardization (ISO8373:2012) defines "Autonomy" as a gradual progression of various degrees of human intervention, from non-independence to full independence [61].…”

“…A surgical robot capable of autonomous actions is defined through three parameters: mission complexity, environmental difficulty, and independence from human control [61]. Robots in "autonomous mode" should have the ability to see, think, and act through the interactions of visual and physical sensors that perceive the environment without active human intervention to achieve a predetermined surgical goal safely and effectively.…”

“…Robots in "autonomous mode" should have the ability to see, think, and act through the interactions of visual and physical sensors that perceive the environment without active human intervention to achieve a predetermined surgical goal safely and effectively. Such a result requires a high degree of integration of algorithms, robotics, computer vision, and intelligent sensor technologies, as well as a large and comprehensive trial period [61]. However, as specified above, we are far from these achievements given that for the time being such robots do not even exist.…”