Research progress and development trend of surgical robot and surgical instrument arm

Abstract Background In recent years, surgical robots have become an indispensable part of the medical field. Surgical robots are increasingly being used in the areas of gynaecological surgery, urological surgery, orthopaedic surgery, general surgery and so forth. In this paper, the development of surgical robots in different operations is reviewed and analysed. In the type of master–slave surgical robotic system, the robotic surgical instrument arms were located in the execution terminal of a surgical robot system, as one of the core components, and directly contact with the patient during the operation, which plays an important role in the efficiency and safety of the operation. In clinical, the arm function and design in different systems varies. Furtherly, the current research progress of robotic surgical instrument arms used in different operations is analysed and summarised. Finally, the challenge and trend are concluded. Methods According to the classification of surgical types, the development of surgical robots for laparoscopic surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedics and microsurgery are analysed and summarised. Then, focusing on the research of robotic surgical instrument arms, according to structure type, the research and application of straight‐rod surgical instrument arm, joint surgical instrument arm and continuous surgical instrument arm are analysed respectively. Results According to the discussion and summary of the characteristics of the existing surgical robots and instrument arms, it is concluded that they still have a lot of room for development in the future. Therefore, the development trends of the surgical robot and instrument arm are discussed and analysed in the five aspects of structural materials, modularisation, telemedicine, intelligence and human–machine collaboration. Conclusion Surgical robots have shown the development trend of miniaturisation, intelligence, autonomy and dexterity. Thereby, in the field of science and technology, the research on the next generation of minimally invasive surgical robots will usher in a peak period of development.