Images  of the patient's knee are loaded into software which controls the robot's movements. Sensors are also placed on the patient's knee to tell the robot its exact position. The robot then acts as a guide to the surgeon's hand, indicating where the bone needs to be cut away but resisting attempts to cut in the wrong area.
(Right: Rio system)

Professor Philip Rowe of Strathclyde University's bioengineering department, research areas lie in movement analysis, functional analysis and biomechanics of the human body in motion. (Left: Goniometer - used to measure angles as limb moves).

He is especially interested in the application of science and engineering methods to patient treatment and also their use to quantify and analyse the clinical effects of rehabilitation services. "When it came down to surgery we were still relying on saws and carpentry," he says. "The robot brings the accuracy and precision of an industrial tool."

Precision cutting and made-to-measure bone replacement
Arthritic sufferers who have undergone knee bone replacement can suffer considerable pain with the replacement post operative period. One of the problems with traditional techniques is that surgeons must rely on visual guides to ensure the accuracy of their surgery. (Left: Da Vinci Robot)

That inevitably tends to mean larger incisions, greater patient pain and post-operative swelling. Additionally the robot, which can aid surgeons make cuts of any size and shape, can offer the opportunity to create dimensionally made-to-measure joints, rather than average one size fits all. (Right: RIO robotic Arm).

Florida based Mako Surgical Corp was founded in 2004 and holds more than 250 patents and patent applications in the areas of robotics, haptics, robotic surgery, image-guided surgery and implants use in its RIO, robotic arm interactive orthopedic system. "We think the trend is restoration... resurfacing, restoring the knee, not restructuring the knee,” says Mako MD Maurice R. Ferre.