We had the unique opportunity of utilizing the services of Dr Sudhir Srivastava for 18 months - he had his own Hospital in Odessa, Texas where he learnt to work with the Da Vinci robot extensively and he is acknowledged as the leading performer of Totally Endoscopic Coronary Artery Bypass (TECAB)graft surgery.  The peri-operative results in the 1st 100 patients was not highly encouraging - in a relatively low risk population, there was a significant morbidity rate and a few deaths.  This is despite a surgeon who was very facilte with the robot and his team helping him. The technology is just not there - at least for cardiac surgery.  I perform all my valve through small incisions and selected CABG through a left mini-thoracotomy for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time - the patients seem to do better than those that underwent robotic procedures.