The biggest challenge for Intuitive Surgical lies in managing the scale of its growth, says Cukic. As minimally invasive surgery continues to thrive, the company must work on the appropriate instrumentation, training routines and system configurations.

"They're nice problems to have, but they're problems nonetheless," he says.


The Global Robotics Institute recently received a $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to do research on telesurgery or remote site surgery.

"I think that's the next generation, being able to operate from one institution at another," says Dr. Patel. "It will have a huge humanitarian effect because patients in underserved areas will be able to be operated on by experts. Surgeons who might get in trouble surgically can be bailed out by experts around the world, who can log into their robot, take over control and help them get out of trouble."

Many surgeons who have never done robotic surgery attended the World Robotic Symposium. More and more young surgeons are drawn to the robotic approach. As the interest in reducing the invasiveness of surgical procedures continues to increase, those in the medical realm hope to see reductions in cost and improvements in effectiveness.

"The robot gave us the first step toward using this technology to improve patient outcomes," says Dr. Patel. "The future of surgery is now going to be using more technology to enhance what we've built upon."

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