S.E. Butner

About

S.E. Butner is a pioneering researcher in robotic surgery and real-time robot control systems, whose work has fundamentally shaped the landscape of telesurgical technology. Best known for contributions to transatlantic telesurgery, Butner played a central role in one of medicine's most historic milestones — enabling a surgeon to perform minimally invasive procedures on a patient thousands of miles away using the Zeus robotic surgical system developed by Computer Motion, Inc. This landmark 2001 achievement has garnered over 1,000 citations, establishing it as a cornerstone reference in the field. Butner's subsequent work refined the engineering underpinnings of this feat, addressing the formidable challenges of tightly-coupled electromechanical systems and communication latency over vast distances. Beyond telesurgery, Butner made meaningful contributions to robot control architecture, developing specialized computational systems such as RIPS optimized for the demanding real-time requirements of robotic manipulation. His 2006 analysis of the emerging medical robotics market further demonstrated a breadth of vision spanning both technical innovation and commercial strategy. With over 1,500 cumulative citations, Butner's research legacy bridges foundational robotics engineering and transformative clinical applications.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Transatlantic robot-assisted telesurgery

   1,036 citations · 2001
2. 2
   Transforming a surgical robot for human telesurgery

   178 citations · 2003
3. 3
   Robotic surgery - the transatlantic case

   175 citations · 2003
4. 4
   A new architecture for robot control

   37 citations · 2005
5. 5
   The Developing Market for Medical Robotics

   36 citations · 2006
6. 6
   A real-time system for tele-surgery

   27 citations · 2002
7. 7
   RIPS: a platform for experimental real-time sensory-based robot control

   19 citations · 1989
8. 8
   Design and simulation of RIPS: an advanced robot control system

   19 citations · 2003
9. 9
   Robot motion control

   5 citations · 1987
10. 10
    The 3DP Real-Time Motion-Control Computer

    3 citations · 1991

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links