title: Today's state of the art in surgical robotics*.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes the current level of development of robots for surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper is based on a literature search in Pubmed, IEEExplore, CiteSeer and the abstract volumes of the MICCAI 2002, 2003 and 2004, CARS 2003 and 2004, CAOS 2003 and 2004, CURAC 2003 and 2004 and MRNV 2004 meetings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Divided into different disciplines (imaging, abdominal and thoracic surgery, ENT, OMS, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, radiosurgery, trauma surgery, urology), 159 robot systems are introduced. Their functionality, deployment, origin and mechanical set-up are described. Additional contacts and internet links are listed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The systems perform diverse tasks such as milling cavities in bone, harvesting skin, screwing pedicles or irradiating tumors. From a technical perspective the strong specialization of the systems stands out. Most of the systems are being developed in Germany, the United States, Japan or France.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Laboratory for Biomechanics and Experimental Orthopaedics, Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany. peter.pott@ortho.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Peter P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Pott
authors.forename: Hanns-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Scharf
authors.forename: Markus L R
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Schwarz
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation; D012371:Robotics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends