Mitral Valve Surgery with the Da Vinci Robotic Surgical System

The public has long been familiar with media portrayals of "robots" as machines carrying out activities with near-human characteristics. The official definition of a robot by The Robotics Institute of America is more prosaic: "a reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks." Devices under direct manual control are one of the four categories specified.1

Autonomous, programmed machines have been used widely in industry for decades to perform a variety of tasks. Indeed, it is estimated that there are almost one million robots in use worldwide for these applications. Robots designed to directly assist humans in medical, military, or domestic applications are estimated at about 40,000 units. This category is anticipated to increase two-fold by 2010.²