Current state, pathways, and prospects for the development of collaborative robotics from the perspective of a surgeon and engineer

This paper discusses the objective reasons for the growing need for qualified medical services, especially in the context of pandemics, wars, disasters, and shortages of medical staff. The directions of development of robotics in medicine are analyzed, leading to the conclusion that the use of intelligent collaborative (i.e., interacting with humans) robotics in medicine is possible and appropriate. Robot assistants can perform many auxiliary operations, which will help relieve the workload of middle and junior medical staff, and, if necessary, replace them when performing such operations. The article outlines some of the main directions in which the authors believe the development of collaborative medical robotics should occur.