Advances in robot surgery

Mini-invasive surgery deserves increasing attention to lower the post-operative stay in hospital and lessen falls-off complications. This leads to the trends in robots, as innovative integrated computer-aided implements. Out of front-end haptic effectors, the background support is turning to inclusive on-duty functions, e.g., surgical planners, operation assistants, etc., making possible the rethinking of protocols to progressively embed the innovations offered by the micro- and nano-technologies. The chapter brings in surgical robotics, with focus on technology and design issues of the remote-mode operation assistants. The investigation leads to define the technical characteristics of a CRHA, Co-Robotic Handling Appliance, to be purposely developed, to support the duty-split approach surgical planner. The expected features are outlined, including analysis of operation potential of special-purpose contrivances (i.e., automatic changing device of the surgical tools) and of scope-driven enhancers (i.e., exploration of the intervention theatre, IT).