Minimally Invasive Surgery (also known as MIS, minimal access, laparoscopic, or endoscopic surgery) is a major advance in bringing to patients the excellent results of traditional surgical procedures, while eliminating the most physically and emotionally traumatic elements: the pain and lengthy recovery from "open" surgery. Minimally invasive surgery means having a minimum of interference with the patient's normal physiological function. Advances in laparoscopic surgery allow surgeons access to complex patient anatomy through very small incisions instead of the large incisions associated with conventional "open" surgery. Patients experience less pain and shorter recovery times.

Cutting the skin and tissues during surgery to expose a full view of the structures and organs involved in the procedure. Surgeons work under direct visualization with full incision.

Remote activated or user manipulated motion-control, imaging and communication devices, operated via computer hardware and software to enable physicians to conduct an increasing array of surgical procedures in a minimally invasive manner.

Robots are typically capable of movement along a number of axes; these movements can be rotational or translational. The number of axes of movement (degrees of freedom), their arrangement and their sequence of operation, permits movement of the robot to any point within its envelope. Robots have three arm movements (up-down, in-out, side-to-side). In addition, they can have as many as three additional wrist movements on the end of the robot's arm: yaw (side to side), pitch (up and down), and rotational (clockwise).

Tiny computer-enhanced mechanical wrists near the end of the instrument tip that provide all the flexibility of the human wrist and forearm at the operative site, through 1 cm ports.

Haptics (pronounced HAP-tiks) is the science of applying touch (tactile) sensation and control to interaction with computer applications. (The word derives from the Greek haptein meaning "to fasten.") By using special input/output devices (such as joysticks or data gloves), users can receive feedback from computer applications in the form of felt sensations in the hand or other parts of the body. In combination with a visual display, haptics technology can be used to train people for tasks requiring hand-eye coordination, including surgery.

An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans. More technically, a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. The word 'robot' was coined by the Czech playwright Karel Capek, from the Czech word for forced labor or serf.

A branch of engineering that involves the conception, design, manufacture, and operation of robots. This field overlaps with electronics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, nanotechnology, and bioengineering.

For a machine to qualify as a robot, it usually needs these 5 parts:
> Controller
> Arm
> Drive
> End Effector
> Sensor

A software-based feature of the da Vinci¨ Surgical System that increases surgical precision and fine motor control by: 1) scaling hand movements so that large motions by the surgeon are reduced to micro-movements at the operative site, and 2) eliminating natural hand tremors.

A tiny (1 cm) incision, into which a cannula (hollow, rigid tube) is inserted to act as a conduit for an endoscope or minimally invasive surgical instruments.

Natural operative orientation of the instruments in the visual image is maintained regardless of camera rotation, or position within the body, relative to the instruments. In traditional MIS, as the camera is rotated, surgeons become disoriented since, for example, what was "right" on the screen can be "left" with a 180 degree camera rotation.

Any surgical procedure utilizing a visualization device, such as an endoscope.

The surgeon seated at the console is able to look down into the video display and see a precise 3-D image of the surgical field, with hands and instruments in a natural line of sight ø just as it would appear in open surgery. 3-D visualization that allows eye-hand instrument alignment and coordination promotes maximum immersion at the surgical site, eliminating the spatial disorientation and disconnected hand/eye coordination inherent in current MIS techniques.