Before developing telepresence surgery technology, SRI and its team, of medical experts examined tools and techniques used in conventional MIS and found that the long, fulcrumed instruments of laproscope surgery, coupled with video monitors, dramatically limit the skills of the surgeon. To expand the potential of minimally invasive surgery, the SRI team recognized that a system was needed to enable surgeons to perform MIS prodcedures without compromising their skills.

By combining recent advances in stereo imaging, telerobotics, sensory devices, video and telecommunications, the telepresence system provides surgeons with the full sensory experience of conventional hands-on surgery. Auditory, visual and tactile sensations, including the force or pressure felt while making an incision, are communicated directly to the surgeon performing the operation without distortion or delay.

To perform telepresence surgery, doctors wear a pair of specially polarized glasses and sit before a surgeon's console that provide a high-resolution 3D image of the patient. This stereographic image is created with advanced video monitors, camera and mirrors. Grasping the telepresence tool handles at the console, physicians use familiar surgical techniques as they operate via special laproscopic telemanipulators that are mounted on the surgical table. The surgeon's moves, down to the most intricate suture, are replicated exactly.

The benefits of developing telepresence surgery technology are immense. The new technology provided surgeons with tools that perform a wider range of minimally invasive procedures with much grater ease and at reduced overall cost. Telepresence technology will also bring great benefit to the field of microsurgery, where it will enhance surgeons' skills by dramatically improving their precision and dexterity in delicate and complex procedures.

SRI has also developed this new technology to allow surgeon to operate on patients located hundreds, and potentially thousands, of miles away.

For the military, telepresence technology can help medical units deliver care to the front lines. Using a telepresence surgical unit mounted in an armored ambulance, surgeons – operating remotely from a safe location – can provide lifesaving care to wounded soldiers in the zone of combat. Early medical treatment of critically wounded soldiers many dramatically increase their chance for survival.

For the civilian public, remote telepresence technology may eventually provide greater access to surgical experts. As the information superhighway becomes more complete, telelpresence technology will enable people in remote rural areas to have access to surgical expertise that is currently available only in urban areas.

Useful applications for telepresence surgery technology extend beyond the operating room and the battlefield. The technology is also ideally suited to help disease control specialists treat patients infected by highly contagious deadly viruses.

In addition, manufacturers may capitalize on the technology to safely dispose of hazardous materials, thereby eliminating the threat of human exposure. In addition manufacturer may capitalize on the technology and safely dispose of hazardous materials, thereby eliminating the threat of human exposure. In manufacturing plants that require sterile environments, such as semiconductor and medical device manufacturing sites, the technology could be used to provide access without compromising sterility.