Recent Advances in Medical Robots: Design and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The robotization of surgeries and treatments has witnessed remarkable development. Nowadays, with the deepening of the integration of medicine and engineering in this field, an increasing number of surgical and treatment scenarios present new impetus and challenges for medical robots. The development of medical robots is facing new challenges, especially in terms of sensor technology. Advanced medical sensors, including force/torque sensors, optical sensors, and bio-sensors, serve as the nervous system of medical robots, enabling precise perception and real-time feedback during complex surgical procedures. These sensing capabilities are fundamental to achieving safe and effective human–robot collaboration.

In the face of more specialized and diversified surgical needs, more diverse perception methods and decision-making abilities are required. Currently, medical robots are making rapid progress in this field by leveraging cutting-edge sensor technologies such as haptic feedback systems, 3D vision sensors, and miniature in-body sensors. These innovations allow medical robots to not only be executors assisting physicians and therapists in treatment but also extensions of their eyes, hands, and even minds through enhanced sensory capabilities. The integration of multimodal sensor systems has made medical robots indispensable and crucial partners in the future intelligent medical system.

This Special Issue aims to explore more diversified perception and decision-making processes in medical robots, with particular emphasis on novel sensor technologies and their clinical applications. We will showcase the latest progress in medical robot design, including breakthroughs in sensor fusion algorithms, AI-enhanced sensory processing, and miniaturized implantable sensors. Articles focusing on intelligent perception based on artificial intelligence technology, data-driven intelligent control of robots, and efforts to optimize the design process of medical robots will also be included in this Special Issue. We expect that engineering applications can participate in the treatment process more efficiently, intelligently, and safely, thus bringing a higher quality of life to more people, not just patients.

Dr. Zhenguo Nie
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.