@ken17 Hi. My surgery was robotic assisted. My surgeon didn't even broach an alternative. I'm in Dallas (no surprise, given my email) and had my surgery at Clements Hospital, which is part of UTSW.
Will you have a briefing on stomas before your surgery? We had to attend two sessions, and they were helpful, since you are in a daze when you're discharged---it would be a hard time to learn how to handle things.
With respect to ostomy products, the accepted wisdom is that if your stoma protrudes, you're a candidate for a flat wafer on your ostomy bag, not convex. My initial product problems largely stemmed from this truism (plus problems with Coloplast's adhesive). A Hollister phone rep finally urged me to try a convex model, and that's when everything got better. Still don't understand the engineering!! But one lesson is that the phone reps are really helpful!