“People generally associate my name with the first ever heart transplant in Poland. But I know that if I hadn’t tried to do it, then four, maybe five years later someone else would have. What I am sure of, however, is that no one else in Poland would have started working on developing an artificial heart. Had I not fought to create this device, a few hundred people would not be alive today because we wouldn’t have had ventricular assist devices which saved their lives and wellbeing.”

– Zbigniew Religa,

famous Polish cardiac surgeon

Ludzie łączą moje nazwisko z pierwszą transplantacją serca w Polsce. Ale wiem, że gdybym ja nie spróbował, to może cztery, a może pięć lat później inni zrobiliby tę operację. Jestem natomiast przekonany, że nikt nie zająłby się tworzeniem polskiego sztucznego serca. Gdybym nie walczył o stworzenie tego urządzenia, dziś kilkaset osób już by nie żyło, bo nie byłoby sztucznych komór, które uratowały im życie i zdrowie.

Zbigniew Religa

The last decades, when robots have appeared in the operating room, showed the possibility of surgery enhancement by improving precision, repeatability, stability and dexterity. However, taking into consideration still existing limitations of robotics in surgery, and treating the robots as medical devices with the highest degree of safety level requirements, one must take a number of complex actions when preparing the experimental clinical application of a new modern robot Robin Heart. Presented paper describes the current state of procedures carried out in the Robin Heart project of surgery robots prepared for clinical application. Based on experiences with the devices existing on the market and, first of all, thanks to knowledge and expertise gained by our team during last 12 years, intensive work are currently done in order to introduce both mechanical and electronic modifications as well as to improve the safety system. As far as human resources are concerned, a professional team able to carry out the robot-supported surgery is prepared based on the created system of technical and functional trainings on simulation stands, which also includes the developed operation planning procedures. The first telemanipulator designed for clinical practice is the Robin Heart Vision – endoscopic system manipulator.