New trends in robotic neurosurgery

Neurosurgery requires a great precision in tool positioning. Nevertheless, neurosurgeons, limited by their anthropomorphic structure, have a reduced dexterity when moving a surgical tool. The requirements of having both a magnification of the operative field and a tool miniaturization have overwhelmed the spatial resolution of the human hand. Robots, in contrast, are capable of minute, tremor-filtered movements and are indefatigable. These assets are invaluable in any microsurgical arena, particularly when manipulating delicate and diseased intracranial structures. This paper presents new trends on robotic neurosurgery. A particular attention is dedicated to the experiences of the Mechatronics research group in telerobotic haptic master-slave neurosurgical robotics