Future robotic platforms in urologic surgery: recent developments

To review recent developments at Vanderbilt University of new robotic technologies and platforms designed for minimally invasive urologic surgery and their design rationale and potential roles in advancing current urologic surgical practice.

Emerging robotic platforms are being developed to improve performance of a wider variety of urologic interventions beyond the standard minimally invasive robotic urologic surgeries conducted currently with the da Vinci platform. These newer platforms are designed to incorporate significant advantages of robotics to improve the safety and outcomes of transurethral bladder surgery and surveillance, further decrease the invasiveness of interventions by advancing LESS surgery, and to allow for previously impossible needle access and ablation delivery.

Three new robotic surgical technologies that have been developed at Vanderbilt University are reviewed, including a robotic transurethral system to enhance bladder surveillance and transurethral bladder tumor, a purpose-specific robotic system for LESS, and a needle-sized robot that can be used as either a steerable needle or small surgeon-controlled micro-laparoscopic manipulator.