Getting to the heart of robotic surgery

摘要

Miniature surgical robots will soon be ready to embark on a fantastic voyage through our bodies, homing in on the part that's ailing and fixing it from the inside. Unlike today's robotic surgeons, these tiny machines may make some of their own decisions (see page 50). Who then will take responsibility if things go wrong: the human surgeon who deployed the robot or the people who designed or programmed it? At present it is not clear. And will patients greet medibots as the logical successors to the scanning and keyhole surgery that have made modern surgery less invasive? Or is the idea of autonomous machines swimming in our eyes or crawling through our hearts just too creepy? Such question needs to be addressed. Medibots could revolutionise healthcare: it would be a pity if squeamishness got in the way.