Origins of Robotic Surgery: From Skepticism to Standard of Care

The uses of robotics in surgery were hypothesized as far back as 1967, but it took nearly 30 years and the nation's largest agency, the Department of Defense, in conjunction with innovative startups and established research agencies to complete the first fully functional multipurpose surgical robot. Currently, the most prominently available multipurpose robotic surgery system with US Food and Drug Administration approval is Intuitive Surgical Inc.'s da Vinci Surgical System, which is found in operating rooms across the globe. Although now ubiquitous for minimally invasive surgery, early surgical robot prototypes were specialty focused. Originally, multipurpose robotic systems were intended for long-distance trauma surgery in battlefield settings. While there were impressive feats of telesurgery, the marketable focus has veered from this goal. Initially developed through SRI International and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, surgical robotics reached private industry through two major competitors, who later merged.

A thorough search of PubMed, Clinical Key, EBSCO, Ovid, ProQuest, and industry manufacturers' websites yielded 62 relevant articles, of which 51 were evaluated in this review.

We analyzed the literature and referred to primary sources by conducting interviews with present and historical leaders in the field to yield a detailed chronology of surgical robotics development. As minimally invasive robotic procedures are becoming the standard of care, it is crucial to comprehensively document their historical context and importance as an emerging and evolving discipline.