Introduction to Special Section on Surgical Robotics

The purpose of this Special Issue on Surgical Robotics is to report recent advances and clinical applications of surgical robotics. The special issue presents current and emerging trends; highlights many enabling technological advancements related to design, evaluation, and usability of surgical robots. It also identifies open research issues and further steps required for future clinical uptake. A total of 110 manuscripts were submitted in response to our Call for Papers. After an initial screening for overall quality, relevance and contents, 78 submitted papers went through a peerreview procedure, and 22 papers were selected for inclusion in the Special Issue following peer review. Twelve of these papers present integrated medical robotic systems, novel mechatronic, and microrobot designs, and their clinical applications. Five papers present new surgical simulation and training techniques that use the robotics technology; five papers discuss surgical navigation, intraoperative imaging, and medical image computing techniques for robot-assisted interventions. The collection of papers in this issue covers a broad range of applications related to neurosurgery, image-guided catheterization procedures, needle steering and microrobots, cancer therapy, laparoscopic surgery, image fusion, cardiac intervention, and open platforms for surgical robotic research.