Cooperative integrated surgical robots for high-performance targeted therapies

The escalating demand for secure, precise, and high-performance targeted therapies has elevated surgical robots to a prominent position in the field of robotics and translational medicine research in recent decades. However, surgical robots with single functionality and isotropic configuration exhibit limitations in accomplishing intricate and multi-objective surgical tasks. With the rise of multi-agent intelligence, cooperative integrated surgical robots with multiple robotized instruments and imaging modalities, which can perform cooperative motions during autonomous operations, demonstrate great potential in dealing with multi-faceted intraoperative surgical tasks employing complementary functionalities, enhancing the efficacy of surgical procedures spatiotemporally. This review systematically outlines the recent advancements in this burgeoning field by defining the concept, key technologies, and representative breakthroughs while elaborating on the prospects for targeted therapies. We also elucidate the challenges and clinical feasibility of the current cooperative surgical robots and discuss the future directions for next-generation multi-functional solutions to expand biomedical application horizons.