Infographic: Robots in the Surgical Suite

NASA scientists first proposed robotic surgery 30 years ago, but the effort failed because of the tremendous distances between Earth and orbiting astronauts. It has been 20 years since robots were first used in operating rooms. The Da Vinci robotic system was the first, and has been the most common system used to this day. But operating room robots are poised for growth. New systems are being developed. Here are a few of them.