A Brief History of Robotics in Surgery

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the introduction and relatively rapid expansion of industrial robots. On the other hand, robotic infiltration in healthcare has been much slower and more limited. The past decade has experienced a surge in robotic assistance in surgery, sparked by unprecedented interest in the precision and ergonomic benefits of this rapidly evolving class of technology. While robots have been introduced more broadly in surgical fields such as urology, general surgery, and gynecology, adoption in orthopedic surgery is only recently, but rapidly, expanding and likely will remain on the leading edge of the robotic revolution.