Robotic arms on the operation table

The patient on the operating table is in a deep sleep. Several robotic arms hover above their open stomach. The DaVinci Xi medical robot operates on the ulcer with utmost precision, because, when performing surgery on diseases such as cancer, precision is tremendously important. The surgeon sits a little distance away from the patient at the control panel, whose high image quality makes the procedure possible, and co-ordinates the robotic arms. This could soon be commonplace in all operating theatres.

The Else Kröner Fresenius Centre for Digital Health (EKFZ) at the Uniklinik Dresden teaching hospital has an experimental operating theatre with robot-based assistance systems for research purposes. Three models are already being used in everyday hospital operations, as doctors co-operate with engineers and IT specialists. The team around physician and IT professor Stefanie Speidel seeks to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) to be able to perform surgeries with even greater precision in future. ‘It is immensely important here that the right information be made available at the right time’, she emphasises. Robotics made in Dresden can, for instance, help patients be treated even more conservatively.