Da Vinci Surgical System - Future Applications

Future Applications

Although the general term "robotic surgery" is often used to refer to the technology, this term can give the impression that the da Vinci System is performing the surgery autonomously. In contrast, the current da Vinci Surgical System cannot – in any manner – function on its own, as it was not designed as an autonomous system and lacks decision making software. Instead, it relies on a human operator for all input; however, all operations – including vision and motor functions— are performed through remote human-computer interaction, and thus with the appropriate weak AI software, the system could in principle perform partially or completely autonomously. The difficulty with creating an autonomous system of this kind is not trivial; a major obstacle is that surgery per se is not an engineered process – a requirement for weak AI. The current system is designed merely to replicate seamlessly the movement of the surgeon's hands with the tips of micro-instruments, not to make decisions or move without the surgeon’s direct input.

The da Vinci System could also potentially be used to perform truly remote operations via satellite uplink. This was, in fact, the original design objective of the Da Vinci system, though this was abandoned early in development. The possibility of long-distance operations depends on the patient having access to a da Vinci System, but technically the system could allow a doctor in the United States, for example, to perform telesurgery on a patient in Antarctica.