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“Telesurgery opens the door to universal world-class surgery.” – Professor Lord Ara Darzi

This year’s theme, “Back to the Future: Telesurgery in 2025,” brought together over 450 clinicians, engineers, researchers, and innovators from around the world eager to explore the next frontier in surgical robotics.

The Symposium held over four days in June, was led by , Professor of Medical Robotics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at 911���պ��� and Co-Director of the Hamlyn Centre alongside , who holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at 911���պ���, the and the . Professor Lord Darzi also delivered an inspiring opening keynote speech reflecting on the evolution of telesurgery and commemorating 25 years since its first successful operation.  

“Telesurgery is the next evolution, one that will take us across boarders, systems and barriers of access, which remains one of the bigger challenges in terms of global health.” – Professor Lord Ara Darzi.

The programme covered a broad spectrum of topics including Endoluminal Devices, Imaging & Visualisation in Robotic Surgery, Sensory Feedback & Perception, Smart Devices & Methods, Micro-Robots & Micro-Surgery, Telesurgery, Surgical Autonomy & AI, and Towards Clinical Adoption. Professor Lord Ara Darzi was joined by a distinguished panel of fellow keynote speakers and Forum panellists whose insights spanned clinical practice, technology innovation, and global education in surgery.

Telesurgery and Clinical Robotics

5 billion people worldwide do not have access to timely, safe, and affordable surgical care when needed. The Lancet (2020)

, co-founded in 2018 by (MD, FACS, and board-certified plastic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai) featured prominently in the Global Surgery Forum and Innovating for Surgical Equity workshop. Ohana One's mission is to “transform lives through surgical care” focusing on underserved communities and global surgical training.  

A key example is Dr Kulber’s long-standing work in Mozambique, a country with a population of 30 million but only 500 surgeons—just three of whom perform reconstructive surgery. Dr Kulber’s mentorship of has led to Dr Santos becoming a leading plastic surgeon in Mozambique.

Ohana One uses multiple technologies CAMVU, GLASSVU, SCREENVU and FLOW VU developed by their tech partner TeleVU to help bridge the surgical gap: 

• GLASSVU provides remote surgical training via AR glasses, allowing mentors to observe surgeries in real-time and superimpose visual instructions. This offers direct patient care from more experienced consultants who are thousands of miles away.

• SCREENVU technology can superimpose X-rays, providing an immersive experience as if the remote clinical expert is physically present in the room. 
• Over 1000 doctors have been trained using the technology which have contributed to saving an estimated 100 million lives.

Recognising connectivity challenges in low-resource areas, Ohana One has developed the , which can be used on a smartphone. The app connects mentee surgeons with mentors for data and idea sharing and helps medical NGOs collaborate. It provides real-time communication and access to digital learning materials, overcoming limited internet access.

“The surgical gap in resource-scarce countries is huge vs where we are in Western countries. The more ways we can bring them technology creates the ability to close the gap.” – Dr David Kulber.

Ohanan One also produced the call-to-action documentary “” to raise awareness about the surgical gap in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Kulber was also featured on Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 Episode 6 titled ‘The Me Nobody Knows’ and the crew donated surgical lights for him to transport back to Mozambique.

Telementoring and education

Around 3.5 billion people live on less than £5.05 ($6.85) per day—the poverty line for upper-middle-income countries. While over 300 million surgeries are performed globally each year, many people still cannot afford access. The child mortality rate is particularly high with 1 in 10 dying before they’re five years old. Surgery and critical care must therefore be considered public health priorities.

is the President of the Intuitive Foundation (the corporate Foundation of ), a high-technology Silicon Valley-based company that makes the . In her keynote speech titled "Surgical Education at Scale" she discussed the development of inherently scalable training methods for surgical psychomotor skills, and how these approaches integrate into the broader ecosystem of technology-enabled surgical training worldwide.

Her Symposium talk underscored the urgency of global surgical education reform, particularly considering workforce shortages and uneven access to traditional training pathways. Dr Mohr also highlighted the role of simulation, data analytics, and modular curricula in making high-quality surgical education more equitable and accessible. She specifically referenced how remote surgeons perform procedures to give better outcomes and how telementoring people in remote areas on vaccinations and antibiotics will make them easier to deploy. The importance of infrastructure improvements with groups like and tools like , and time-saving beginner-level self-administrative assessments for remote learning.

 AI and the Future

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. In the 1980s the prognosis was poor with low survival rates. However, this has now improved to 40-60% surviving up to 5 years.

(City of Hope Medical Centre) is known for his pioneering work in liver surgery - especially in demonstrating liver resection as a potentially curative treatment for stage IV colorectal liver metastases.

In his keynote titled ‘Next Steps in Surgical Robotics: AI, Automation and Remote Workflow,” Professor Fong explored the evolving role of intelligent systems in surgical practice. He outlined how AI and remote workflows are transforming surgical care delivery and emphasised the importance of integrating innovation responsibly into clinical environments for example increasing computer aided surgeries so operations can be less invasive. The robotic surgeon performs repetitive tasks, leaving complex decisions to rested human surgeons, 270° FDA-approved camera systems provide greater surgical visibility and remote consultations can occur even as far as the .

Professor Fong also shared how AI-powered sensors can detect residual cancer through molecular wavelength analysis by a specificity of 100% and monitor patients’ post-operative recovery via wearable devices.

“Future robotic surgery is going to be better, AI enhanced robots will be safer, more effective and will allow more surgeons to go to surgery. Remote workflow will enable telementoring, remote rescue and telecollaborative surgery. The challenge we have is making it affordable and available for all.” – Professor Fong.

Start-ups and Industry Forums

is the Chief Technology Officer at , a start-up that offers a fresh perspective on robotic systems development from concept to clinical deployment. His keynote speech explored the translation of advanced engineering in system design robotics, machine learning and computer vision into products that address unmet clinical needs.  He touched upon the importance of having high-performance teams of engineers and scientists and how agile development practices and real-world testing are critical in accelerating safe, effective adoption of surgical technologies. 

Their platform is a highly adaptable, easy-to-use bedside robotic system that digitises the operating room, increases surgical consistency, and improves patient safety. With over 1,500 procedures already performed—including 60 via telecommunication—Maestro is helping to expand the reach of robotic surgery.

“You don’t want to be comfortable in the cloud, you want to be able to do it locally and if you want to take advantage of what’s happening in that space you need to have a machine or a system between the surgeon and patient, and that’s exactly how we see Maestro” – Dr David Noonan

Moon Surgical also developed ScoPilot, an AI-powered tool using NVIDIA Holoscan for real-time laparoscope control, responding to surgeon movements and voice commands. Though not yet approved for the U.S. market, it reflects the future of integrated, intelligent surgical tools.

During the Industry Forum, experts from , , , , , and others discussed transformative advances in:

• AI and machine learning
• Robotic autonomy
• 5G-enabled telesurgery
• Regulatory and ethical frameworks

Moderated by (Director, HAWKES Centre, UCL), the panel emphasised cross-sector collaboration and scalable innovation for global benefit.

“I think fundamentally at the heart of it, it is about making sure that everyone gets the best quality of care no matter where they are.” -

The Symposium also hosted:

• 12 workshops that covered emerging areas from soft robotics, microrobotics, training platforms and surgical autonomy, to open-source software development.
• 94 posters that showcased ground-breaking work were presented to an International and local programme committee.
• 3 Surgical Robot Challenge finalists demonstrated their pioneering technology. The challenge celebrated technological achievement and community engagement.

“We are thankful to our world-leading Programme Committee, sponsors, exhibitors, and media partners. We are also deeply thankful to Lady Hamlyn and the Helen Hamlyn Trust, whose steadfast philanthropic support continues to make this Symposium possible.  It has been a privilege to lead the Hamlyn Centre and to host this annual gathering of the global surgical robotics community. We look forward to many more years of collaboration, innovation, and progress together.” (Head of Operations, Hamlyn Centre).