Special Issue on Robotics for Medical Applications.

In recent years, the field of robots for medical applications has been expanding rapidly. Robots effectively augment their operators’ skills, enabling them to achieve accuracy and high precision during complex procedures. The use of robots improves the quality of life of patients and the quality of medical research. Therefore, the research and development of robots for medical applications will become more active in aging societies. This special issue focuses on the design and control of robots as well as integrated technologies for robots for medical applications. These include navigation, simulator, image guidance, training, and validation technologies for robots. The special issue consists of 17 papers with various studies related to medical robots. There are 7 papers on assistant robots, including their passive and active controls, devices, and sensors. There are 10 papers related to minimally invasive surgery and neurosurgery involving robots, including papers on sensors, actuators, navigation, haptic display devices, the mechanical design of devices, and other topics. The editors are confident that this special issue will greatly contribute to further progress in robotics We sincerely thank the authors for their fine contributions and the reviewers for their generous contributions of time and effort. We would also like to thank the Editorial Board of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for their help with this special issue.