1. Team A – LAS432
Group PowerPoint Presentation
ROBOTIC SURGERY

2. WHAT IS ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY?
➢ History of the term “robot” and its implications in surgical
operations
➢ Telepresence and telecommunication technologies associated
with robotic surgery
➢ Voice control technologies
➢ Tactile Sensors sophistication in robotic surgical automation
➢ Advanced intelligence technologies in Microelectromechanical
Systems

3. HISTORY OF ROBOTIC SURGERY
➢ Who were the major players?
➢ What were the development and events that led up to Robotic Surgery devices?
➢ 1954-Inventor-George Charles Deval invented the robotic arm
➢ 1961-General Motors- first used the Unimate robotic arm for lifting and stacking die cast
➢ 1985- The 1985 robotic surgery lead to the first laparoscopic procedure involving a robotic
system, a cholecystectomy
➢ 2000- Intuitive Surgical invented the Da Vinci Surgery System that is controlled by a surgeon
from a console that is FDA approved to perform minimally invasive surgery like
prostatectomies
➢ 2000-Telesurgery -Dr. Anvari and Dr. McKinley collaborative on an anti- reflux surgery on a
66 year old woman lying in North Bay General Hospital's operating room nearly 400 km away
while Dr. Anvari was at a computer in Hamilton Ontario and Craig McKinley was in his
operating room in North Bay.
➢ 2006- Snakelike robots called active cannulas are used to initiate or complete procedures that
cannot be initiated because surgical paths are too small for the tools.
➢ 2014-Smith and Nephews contracted with Blue Belt Technologies to use Navio Orthopaedic
surgical systems to implant Smith and Nephew’s partial knee. --It reduces the problem of the
alignment and balance of the partial knee, the two technologies combined will reduce overall
cost and most importantly, it will deliver

4. POLITICAL AND LEGAL INFLUENCES
➢ Inaccuracy of misconduct suits-
A number of claims on unsatisfactory medical care do not seem to have
basis
➢ Difficult to verify a manufacturing fault
‘Expert witnesses’ are preferred in such suits, who happen to be the
manufacturer, and are not ready to accept liability.
➢ Unavailability of evidences and indications
FDA denies use of MAUDE database as evidences for lawsuits.
➢ Inability to control the significance of metadata
This is usually left out to the expert observers
➢ Lack of informed consent to the patients.

5. ECONOMICS AND ROBOTIC SURGERY
➢ How do we place a value on our lives?
➢ Most simple business models often use supply and demand vs
selling price to provide a stable price point for the consumer.
➢ Demand – Everyone wants to live life as fully as possible, but few
need robotic surgery. Is there enough demand?
➢ Cost – How do you justify the $1-2 million dollar investment?
➢ Price sustainability – How much would you pay to live a fuller life?
➢ Do the costs outweigh the advantages?
➢ What are the costs?
➢ Are the investments being recouped?
➢ Are costs improving?
➢ Where does the power of choice come in?

6. ROBOTIC SURGERY: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
AND SOCIOLOGICAL
➢ Some doctors agree with having patients use robotic
surgery, while other
➢ doctors completely disagree all the benefits robotic
surgery offers.
➢ The most important contribute is how the patients feel
about having robot
➢ arms doing their surgery instead of the doctor being up
close and doing it
➢ him or herself.
➢ Depending on what doctor you talk to is going to have a
different opinion
➢ about robotic surgery.
➢ The most current article states “Over the past decade, da
Vinci robotic
➢ surgery has rapidly grown in popularity for a variety of
different
➢ gynecologic, urologic and other laparoscopic surgical
procedures.
➢ However, several studies have raised questions about
the cost and
➢ effectiveness of the surgical system.” (Jackson, 2015)
➢ A doctor who does not agree with the highly expensive
equipment is
➢ Doctor Lauren Streicher. She believes that the
laparoscopically and the
➢ robotic surgery has the same outcome so why spend
millions of dollars
➢ buying new equipment instead of investing money into
surgeons learning
➢ more about the technology they already have.
➢ Doctor David Josephson of California is a urologic
oncologist who deals
➢ with prostate cancer. “Josephson believes this
number will diminish as
➢ more surgeons gain access to the robotic surgical
systems.” (Jackson,
➢ 2014)
➢ “Hospitals advertise their da Vinci machines in part as
a response to
➢ perceived consumer demand. They see the robots as
a way to bring more
➢ patients through their glass doors rather than their
competitors’, studies
➢ have shown. But hospital advertisements also help
drive the perception
➢ that robots make the best surgeons.” (Scott, 2015)
➢ An article that is named “Patients scarred after robotic
surgery” would put
➢ a psychological effect on any patient.
➢ Michael who is a former Navy Corpsman and has a
degree in Nursing got
➢ diagnosed with prostate cancer

7. CULTURAL CONTEXT AND MEDIA
INFLUENCE
➢ Technology in healthcare
○ X-Rays
○ Laparoscopic
techniques
○ Robotic Surgery
➢ Cultural Context
○ Social Informatics
➢ Facilitators
○ Implementation
Planning
○ Physician & Patient
Acceptance
○ Demand by
Knowledge Era
➢ Limitations
➢ Age & Control
➢ Haptic Feedback &
“Human Element”
➢ Interoperability
➢ Media Influence
➢ Ignorance &
Overestimation
➢ Credible
Sources
➢ Unified Answer Among
Studies

8. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
➢ Is it dangerous to humans?
➢ Injuries
➢ Risks
➢ Advantages
➢ Disadvantages

9. MORAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS
➢ Safety Concerns ➢ The Future: Moral
machines?
➢ Hospitals withholding
the amount of Robotics
Surgery accidents?
➢ The amount of recorded
incidents has risen from
13.3 to 50 in 8 years
➢ Robotic surgeons are just
tools
➢ AMA (Artificial Moral
Agents) the future of
Robotic Surgery?
➢ Programmed Ethics: Is a
set of guidelines good
enough?
➢ Learned Ethics:
Teaching a machine
right from wrong

10. CONCLUSION
➢ Future of Robotic Surgery
➢ Benefits and Challenges
➢ Learning Curve
➢ Training
Q&A