Surgical robots perform increasingly delicate, minimally invasive surgeries — guided by OCT and other optical imaging techniques.

The first robotic surgery took place in 1985 when the PUMA 560 was used in a stereotaxic operation in which computed tomography (or x-ray) was used intraoperatively to guide a robot as it inserted a needle into the brain for biopsy. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, robotic systems began to be used for laparoscopic surgery, in which a flexible optical instrument was inserted into the body and used to guide surgeons through hard-to-reach areas, from the pelvis to the chest cavity.

By the turn of the century, Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s da Vinci surgical system, which was approved by the FDA in 2000, was used for general laparoscopic surgical procedures and even cardiovascular surgeries — a high watermark in the early years. The system is still in wide use today.

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If anyone can speak to the evolution of robotic surgery, it’s Russell H. Taylor, the John C. Malone Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, who is known by many as the father of medical robotics. He is credited with breakthroughs in computer-assisted brain, spinal, eye, ear, nose, and throat surgeries… Continue reading.