Next Generation Surgery: Seamless integration of Robotics, Machine Learning and Knowledge Representation within the operating rooms

The use of surgical robots has -beyond doubt- led to advances and improvements in surgery. The next significant forward leap is expected with the introduction of intelligent systems that can operate autonomously, or semi-autonomously in cooperation with the surgeons. In this quest of intelligence, growing synergies from diverse scientific branches have emerged. These include the areas of machine learning, knowledge representation, perceptual interfaces, as well as new robotic concepts and methodologies able to accommodate this ever-increasing body of scientific research. Outside academic research settings, evidence of this exponential growth can also be witnessed in the significant investment committed by commercial surgical robot developers and manufacturers. New high-tech companies and start-ups are also emerging at an increasing rate.
The aim of this workshop is to explore the next generation of robotic surgery from different and diverse angles. One aspect concentrates on the most innovative technologies and advances in the fields of robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and knowledge representation. A second aspect focus on international scientific projects presented as motivating case studies. Importantly, the industrial point-of-view is accommodated in a “reality testing” role, regarding the current level of adoption of scientific research in the field and future potential.

The Workshop is organized by grouping the presentations into four main areas of correlated topics. Each topic will address the innovations in surgical robotics from a different perspective, while the combination of these branches and disciplines will give the outlook on the next generation of robots and cognitive systems for the operating room.

The topics that will be addressed in the Workshop are:

• TOPIC 1. Motivating case studies: An overview of recent international research projects will provide applications and case studies that allow to frame the problem and motivate the interest in finding innovative solutions.
• TOPIC 2. Robotics – control and planning: Different branches of robotics will be involved in this topic, to address the main activities and technologies actually being exploited for developing a surgical robot, from the control to the planning. A particular focus will be on autonomy/assistance in surgical robotics and shared control in critical applications.
• TOPIC 3. Perception, knowledge representation for reasoning and AI: Pre-operative and intra-operative medical images are complex but rich sources of information on the operational scenario of surgical robots. The analysis of such information with Artificial intelligence methods is more and more applied in surgical robotics, allowing robots and assistive systems to learn from human behaviors and adapt to the dynamics of real-world contexts. Presentations on this topic will report on advanced processing of medical images, on the extraction of computerized knowledge about surgical tasks and on machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence for better surgery.
• TOPIC 4. Industry: The role of robots is acknowledged as central in the 3rd and 4th industrial revolutions. In the latter, leading and newer manufacturers are attracted by new business opportunities and challenges. For similar reasons, joining the surgical robotics revolution currently in progress is part of the development plans of many robots producers, including industrial leaders and novel startup companies.

The Workshop is endorsed by the IEEE RAS Technical Committee for Surgical Robotics and by the IEEE RAS Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics

IMPORTANT NEWS: The Best and Second Best contributions for poster presentation will be awarded by a prize kindly offered by Auris Health, Inc. See the related Awards page!!