His name is Maestro. It is an artificial intelligence robot that enters the operating room and takes on the role of an assistant in laparoscopic operations with its two arms. It holds the camera steady, guides the surgeon with precise information during the operation, while also taking care of its environmental footprint.

Maestro is designed to support surgeons, operating room staff and patients in the millions of soft tissue surgeries now performed through Minimally Invasive Surgery. It is adapted to the laparoscopic machines of hospitals, providing autonomy to the surgeon, so that he does not need the help of staff to carry out an operation. It has an integrated large computer that with the help of Artificial Intelligence allows the real-time development of algorithms in the operating room, for immediate benefits during the operation.

The robotic assistant was presented yesterday in Thessaloniki to the doctors participating in the 19th Scientific Conference of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP), the work of which started on 9/25 and ends today at the Vellideo Conference Center.

The demonstration of the capabilities of Maestro, developed by the 2019 Paris-founded medical device company Moon Surgical and the industry leader in microprocessors for artificial intelligence systems Nvidia, took place from the premises of the Thessaloniki-based business incubator “i4G”.

The commercial director of Moon Surgical, Eric Ermenault spoke to APE-MPE about the Maestro that “landed” in Thessaloniki to show the future of robotic surgery, a future that is already here, as surgeons in hospitals in France and the US have performed hundreds of operations using the robotic assistant.

According to Mr. Ermenault, despite laparoscopy being a milestone in invasive surgery, teaching and mastering the techniques of traditional robotic approaches remains a challenge for health systems. “Based on the feedback we have from doctors, laparoscopy is a difficult surgical procedure to learn, because precise manipulations are not easy, for example the camera “shakes”, as a result the surgeon cannot see well the point he wants to intervened. It’s difficult to train, in order for a doctor to be able to do this kind of surgery, it takes years of training,” he explained, adding that the idea behind Maestro’s design was “to give the surgeon two robotic hands, which can use in the operation”.

The robotic system “clips” onto the endoscope and, as Mr. Ermenault explained, “so the surgeon, instead of needing someone to help him, can do the operation himself without the help of a nurse or a young surgeon.” “One of the advantages is that the camera is really stable when viewing the intra-abdominal organs, whereas holding the camera makes it very difficult to follow the doctor as he moves the instruments,” he said, adding that at the push of a button the device is matched with the surgical instruments, following them, without having to move.