Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles has launched the Center for Autonomous Robotic Surgery, bringing together surgeons and engineers together to build surgical robots that can perform some tasks on their own while working alongside surgeons in the operating room.
The health system announced the center Oct. 12. It aims to make surgery safer, more precise and more widely available, and to help clinicians treat more complex diseases and reach more patients. Cedars-Sinai says the systems will support surgeons’ clinical judgment, not replace it.
Andrew Hung, MD, and Michael Yip, PhD, will co-direct the center. Dr. Hung is a urologist and minimally invasive robotic surgery specialist in Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Urology. He is known for his work bringing AI and machine learning into robotic surgery, including AI-driven measures of surgical performance.
Dr. Yip joins Cedars-Sinai from the University of California San Diego, where he directed the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory. He holds a joint faculty appointment in urology and computational biomedicine.
Dr. Hung said that building surgeons’ clinical expertise into the engineering will produce autonomous systems surgeons can trust. Dr. Yip said advances in machine learning and sensing now allow systems that understand the surgical environment and support the care team in real time.
Jeffrey Golden, MD, executive vice dean of research and education and director of the Burns and Allen Research Institute, called the pairing “exactly the kind of partnership we need to move this field forward.”
The co-directors are now hiring clinicians, engineers and data scientists for the center’s multidisciplinary team.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
