Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medical robotics has the potential to improve surgical and endoluminal procedures by enabling high-precision movements and superhuman perception. OBJECTIVES: To present historical, existing and future robotic assistants for surgery and to highlight their characteristics and advantages for keyhole surgery and endoscopy. METHODS: In particular, historical medical robots and conventional telemanipulators are presented and compared with minimally invasive continuum robots and novel robotic concepts from practice and research. In addition, a perspective for future generations of surgical and endoluminal robots is offered. CONCLUSION: Robot-assisted medicine offers great added value for quality of intervention as well as safety for surgeons and patients. In the future, more surgical steps will be performed (semi-)autonomously and in cooperation with the experts.