TREND OF SURGICAL ROBOT TECHNOLOGY AND ITS INDUSTRIAL OUTLOOK

Since the launch of the da Vince robot by Intuitive Surgical Co., Ltd., the surgical robot market has started to be launched in earnest. Mako Surgical's knee replacement robot has been released as the second successful model. Recently, many existing medical device companies or other global companies stepped into surgical robot market due to the large demand and the possibility of market expansion. The market is divided into two major divisions: fast follower following da Vince type robot and first mover sector for surgery except laparoscopic surgery. Surgical robot system is a fusion technology of various core technologies such as robot technology, sensor technology, navigation technology, surgical tool technology, and integration of these technologies, so it is difficult for companies, research institutes and researchers, which do not have experience, to form global competitiveness in a short time. It is recognized that global companies are moving into new surgical robot market through M&A or cooperation as needed. There is an urgent need for each national policy to encourage cooperation models.This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (10052980, Development of microrobotic system for surgical treatment of chronic total occlusion) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea). This work performed by ICT based Medical Robotic Systems Team of Hanyang University, Department of Electronic Systems Engineering was supported by the BK21 Plus Program funded by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)