Computer Vision News - December 2022

28 AI for Surgical Robotics It is often found that the same assistance can be given to single-port robotic surgeries as well, in addition to specific assistance it can give to solve the challenges of single- port. For instance, the field of view allowed by cameras in a single port is more limited than in the multi-port approach, where multiple access angles are provided. A unique port constrains cameras to be The use by the surgical community of single-port as a surgical approach has become increasingly frequent. In this context, a surgical port is the pathway by which tools and cameras are inserted into the body via an incision . That means that, instead of having multi-port and multi-arm as we are used to seeing in Da Vinci and other medical robots , some vendors are proposing a single-port robot, meaning that all the tools and cameras that are used during the surgery come froma single-port. The advantages of single-port approach are multiple: from easier and shorter convalescence to less discomfort for the patients and less scars on their body. The tradeoff is between these benefits and the challenge of operating through one only angle: if the surgeons are trained to access the interested body region through different angles, theywill need to adapt and work from one only pathway. This is why a single-port robot needs to make sure that its arms can twist and bend in all needed directions, so that the surgeon is not limited in the surgery by the single-port constraint. The goal is to let the surgeons conduct the intervention as if they were working from multiple ports, assuring them the degrees of freedom they need to operate safely and successfully. Of course, the incision place which will be used as a single port must be chosen with extreme attention. Artificial Intelligence (AI) already assists multi-port robotic surgeries in many ways. AI-BASED FEATURES TO ASSIST IN SINGLE-PORT ROBOTIC SURGERY