Abstract: Robotic surgery overcomes the limitations of conventional laparoscopy associated with anatomy and offers certain advantages，including magnification，virtual 3D imaging，flexible wrist with seven degree of freedom，dexterity，superior microsurgical capabilities，lack of tremors，motion scaling，a short learning curve and friendly manmachine interface.The tight confines of the deep narrow pelvis make the robot a good match for medlow rectal surgery.Robotic rectal surgery has been shown to reduce conversions as compared to laparoscopic surgery in the majority of studies，but it is associated with longer operative times than the conventional laparoscopic approach.Preliminary research shows that postoperative shortterm outcome and longterm prognosis are equivalent between the two approaches.The possible superiority of robotic surgery in terms of the preservation of autonomic function allows for the preservation of urinary and sexual functions after nerve preserving TME.Even so，it should be emphasized that the cooperation and training for members of the surgical team will be required and the costs and benefits still needs to be further improved and optimized.The effects of robotic rectal cancer resection on the shortterm outcome，quality of life and prognosis of patients need to be investigated and validated by a rigorous desiged multicenter RCT study. 

Key words: rectal cancer, robotic surgery, quality of life, outcome, prognosis