Background: Computer-assisted technologies such as navigation or patient specific instrumentation (PSI) have not yet become standard of care in knee replacement surgery. Despite advantages in regard to precision of prosthesis positioning, counter-arguments in terms of effort and costs predominate, or the clinical benefit is still questioned. However, the application of technical assistance is interesting especially for unicompartimental procedures, as the correlation between the surgeon’s experience and the placement of the components on the outcome and survival of the prosthesis has been clearly demonstrated.Objectives: The present work describes the dedicated workflow of current image-based robotic-assisted technologies for partial knee replacement and gives insight into possible advantages compared to the standard manual procedure.Materials and methods: This review article summarizes the currently available literature on the topic and provides insights from the clinical experience of the authors.Results and discussion: Image-based three-dimensional preplanning of the operation using the computed tomography (CT) model offers additional information about the knee joint, which improves the correct size selection and anatomical alignment of the implant. Based on additional intraoperative parameters such as the whole leg axis, the tracking profile of the prosthesis and the soft tissue stability, fine adjustments can be made to optimize the joint balance and kinematics. The robotic technology itself then helps with the precise implementation of the plan. These features appear to result in a significant reduction in surgical errors and, consequently, in overall reduced risk for revision of the unicompartmental prosthesis. The technology thus has the potential to change the reality of care towards more partial replacements in knee arthritis.