[Developments of surgical assist robot: current and future].

As surgical assist robots begin to widely spread in surgery, active developments are performed all over the world. This article surveys current developments of surgical assist robots. Especially, we focus on the surgical assist robots for minimally invasive surgery, since the surgery has been promoted worldwide. Moreover, the applications of surgical assistant robots, which help performing surgery beside surgeons, are promoted. By examining currently used robots, future developments are expected, for example, making forceps diameter smaller, downsizing the system, suitable systems for long-distance telesurgery, haptic feedback to guide the surgeon, systems for single port surgery, autonomous operation of some tasks in surgery and intelligent systems integrated diagnosis and treatments.