Changing "master and slave" terminology in robotic-assisted technologies.

The recently published editorial in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, “Will robots take over our jobs as endoscopists?” comments on the important role that robotic-assisted technologies may have in the future of endoscopy.1 The authors describe shared characteristics of novel robot-assisted endoscopic platforms, the first of which involves a “master and slave” platform. Although the “master and slave” terminology was used by the originators of the technique,2 we believe that this language is unacceptable and should be changed.