There has been a lot of pressure for performing minimal surgical resections for primary lung cancers with the advent of special instrumentation, and the aim is to reduce the surgical trauma to the patient, while not jeopardising the oncologic outcome. Previous randomised double blind trials proved that anything less than a lobectomy and node dissection for an early stage lung cancer was unsatisfactory from an oncology point of view..Thoracoscopic wedge resections can be easy for peripheral tumours, but now, lobectomies are increasingly performed using VATs techniques, with outcomes equal to open procedures. The use of robots sounds very sexy, but is it really? A review of practise will help give balance to the pressures on Thoracic surgeons.