**2.7 Endoscope holding robot**

In the history of the surgical robot, AESOP (Computer Motion, Inc., US) [15], an endoscope holding robot, was one of the pioneers, which was launched in 1994. Although AESOP discontinued, there are some new camera holding robots. Their purpose is mainly to solve the issue of human resources in hospital. Viky (EndoControl, France) [16] is a compact camera holder which can be mounted on the operation bed (**Figure 6**). Freehand (Freehand 2010 Ltd., UK) [17] is also mounted on bed. SoloAssist (AKTORmed, Germany) [18], MTG-H100 (Hiwin Technologies Corp, Taiwan), and EMARO (Riverfield Inc., Japan) stands on the floor. Various control methods are employed, such as voice, head movement, and joystick.

**Figure 6.** *Viky, reprinted by permission from Springer Nature: Springer Nature [16].*
