The author herein reviews recent series of projects aimed at developing computer- and robot-assisted otological surgery. The author's team and its collaborating institutions have developed devices for image-guided surgery and robots for otological procedures. The accumulation of user-oriented research resulted in developing a unique robotic system of human-robot collaborative control, which is the system that restricts the surgeon's hand only if surrounding structures are in danger of injury. Thus, as many other fields in the surgery, otological procedures can also be assisted by computers and robots that provide objective and patient-specific anatomical information during surgery.
Hand ; Surgery, Computer-Assisted