The Da Vinci Surgical System is a robotic surgical

Robotic surgery

Robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery, and robotically-assisted surgery are terms for technological developments that use robotic systems to aid in surgical procedures....

 system made by Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical Inc. is a corporation that manufactures robotic surgical systems, most notably the da Vinci Surgical System. The da Vinci Surgical System allows surgery to be performed remotely using robotic manipulators. The company is part of the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500...

 and designed to facilitate complex surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 using a minimally invasive

Minimally invasive procedure

There are three main categories which describe the invasiveness of surgical procedures. These are: non-invasive procedures, minimally invasive procedures, and invasive procedures ....

 approach. The system is controlled by a surgeon from a console.
It is commonly used for prostatectomies

Prostatectomy

A prostatectomy is the surgical removal of all or part of the prostate gland. Abnormalities of the prostate, such as a tumour, or if the gland itself becomes enlarged for any reason, can restrict the normal flow of urine along the urethra....

 and increasingly for cardiac valve

Heart valve

A heart valve normally allows blood flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart...

 repair and gynecologic surgical procedures.
The da Vinci System consists of a surgeon’s console that is typically in the same room as the patient and a patient-side cart with four interactive robotic arms controlled from the console.
Three of the arms are for tools that hold objects, act as a scalpel

Scalpel

A scalpel, or lancet, is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts . Scalpels may be single-use disposable or re-usable. Re-usable scalpels can have attached, resharpenable blades or, more commonly, non-attached, replaceable...

, scissors, bovie, or unipolar or dipolar electrocautery

Cauterization

The medical practice or technique of cauterization is the burning of part of a body to remove or close off a part of it in a process called cautery, which destroys some tissue, in an attempt to mitigate damage, remove an undesired growth, or minimize other potential medical harmful possibilities...

 instruments.