Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Ryan Decker is a pioneer in the field of autonomous robotic surgery, with a primary focus on advancing soft tissue operations. His most transformative contribution is the development of the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), which achieved a landmark breakthrough in 2016 by performing supervised autonomous soft tissue surgery—a feat previously considered unattainable. This work, cited over 600 times, demonstrated that removing the surgeon’s hands from direct control could enhance precision, safety, and access to optimized techniques. Decker also designed a novel multi-degree-of-freedom electrosurgical tool for semi-autonomous tumor resection, achieving high accuracy through visual servoing. To address the challenge of tracking deformable tissue, he created biocompatible near-infrared fluorescent markers integrated with a plenoptic camera system, enabling robust 3D tracking even under occlusion. His rigorous calibration and evaluation of plenoptic cameras for surgical robotics has established a technical foundation for depth sensing in dynamic surgical scenes. With over 700 total citations, Decker’s work is reshaping the future of robot-assisted surgery, moving it from manual control toward intelligent autonomy.