Discuss the impacts of one example of the use of robotic technology in one of the following:military, business, medicine, labor or domestic service.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, the practical use of robotic technology begun to develop in a wide range of applications. In recent years, it has become widespread in medicine. Due to many technological advances, the surgery now could be done in better, more comfortable conditions. For instance, many surgeons started to use the da Vinci Surgical System in everyday practice for a variety of operations in different medical areas. The da Vinci Surgical system is the advanced tool which is under the direct control of the surgeon. The performance of minimally invasive surgery has a direct impact on that medical field, resulting in a shorter length of hospital stays, improved accuracy, faster recovery time, less pain, smaller incisions and less scarring. However, because surgical robotics is in its early development stage, more complicated surgeries could face some difficulties, e.g. small errors could occur during the procedure. Moreover, there could be some obstacles which are related to patients’ trusts. Despite the fact that robotic technology in surgery has many beneficial impacts, its drawbacks are highly outweighing them. This paper will discuss whether robotic surgery is beneficial or it still needs an improvement.

Current surgical robotics impact the surgeon in different ways. First of all, robots provide the surgeon with a complete dexterity inside the patient’s body. It is very important for the successful surgery, because the doctor is seated comfortably on the robotic console instead of being in awkward positions. Also manipulating the robotic arms allows the surgeon to perform more complex surgical movements. However, according to the studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, some procedural errors could occur using the grasping instruments during the surgical tasks. Some experts say that this comes because of the lack of the force perception during the procedure. When surgeons apply too little force it results in tissue slippage. On the other hand, excessive force causes tissue damage. Finally, even though the use of robotic arms provides the surgeons with the dexterity, the force perception should be considered.

Secondly, the use of robotic technology has an impact on the accuracy of the surgery. Although the robotic surgery is much more accurate than the traditional surgery, it is difficult to state that no type of errors occur during the operation. For example, in the orthopedic surgery, where the bone does not change its initial location during the cutting, the error produced by not accurate hand movements of the surgeon can result in a big variability of the outcome. (Robotica) On the contrary, it is often unclear how accurate the surgery must be. In unicondylar knee replacement surgery, for instance, there is no consensus how accurate the varus alignment of the prosthesis knee center should be with respect to the hip. However, the right location for it could result in post-operative procedures. Finally, even though the robotic technology makes the surgery with higher accuracy, it is often unclear how accurate the surgery must be. But it is very important for the patient’s recovery.

Robotic technologies also have a tremendous impact on patients, allowing them to return to their normal lifestyle much quicker after any kind of robot-assisted surgery. Collins Gilson, who is an avid skier and a devotee of spinning classes, needed a surgery. She was wondering whether she will able to go on her ski vacation after two months or not and one of her big disruptions was the long recovery time. Then, after visiting the Overlake hospital, she learned about da Vinci surgery. Without doubting, she agreed to have a robot – assisted surgery. It offered her lots of benefits, namely smaller incisions, less pain, less blood loss and faster recovery time. “The da Vinci shows the strides that medicine has made,” says Colleen. “It just makes more sense than having a nine-inch incision.” She was very delighted with the results, because the procedure lasted for less than three hours and she spent only one night in the hospital. On the other side of a coin, there are many limitations which do not allow the robotic technology to have a positive impact on patients. As ……. States, morbidly obese patients had difficulties with traditional laparoscopic surgery. The surgeons thought to improve the outcomes by using the da Vinci Surgical System. The results of robot – assisted surgery were compared with the data of the patients who were under the conventional laparoscopic surgery. There were the significant differences mostly in favor of the latter over the former. This meant that although the da Vinci surgery was secure and intuitive, the real advantage over standard laparoscopy in terms of the rates of complication and the length of hospital stays was not provided.

In conclusion, the robotic technology has considerable impacts in the surgical field of medicine. It provides the surgeons with the dexterity inside the patient’s body which allows them not to worry about their movements. Therefore, the entire attention of the surgeon is on the patient. This in turn results in much precision of the procedure. People benefit from robot –assisted surgery in many ways. Namely the length of hospital stays, recovery time and individual post – operative feelings. Doubtless, the robotic surgery has several drawbacks that are overlapping its potential benefits. In other words, procedural errors during the surgical tasks, the perception of force which surgeon uses to manipulate the robotic arms, not clear understanding of the accuracy of the surgery put the use of da Vinci surgery under the huge question. All in all, there are still concerns about the reliability of surgical robotics and who is in charge, the surgeon or the machine?!