surgical robotics Archives - Page 2 of 6

Two technologies that will be huge for robotic surgery, per Intuitive’s Dave Rosa

Intuitive President Dave Rosa [Photo courtesy of Intuitive]

Intuitive Surgical President Dave Rosa says he doesn’t get too excited by the idea of better robotic surgery graspers or more flexible wrists.

Instead, Rosa identified two technological opportunities that are going to advance surgical robotics and minimally invasive surgery in a major way: improved visualization for surgeons and focal therapy.

“How can we help surgeons see more about what they’re doing? … That, to me, is a huge piece of the puzzle going forward that I’m really excited about,” Rosa said in an interview with DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi for our Intuitive Talks podcast.

DeviceTalks West: Intuitive President Dave Rosa will give a keynote interview in Santa Clara, California on Oct. 19

Improving visualization

The difference between the best and worst surgeons isn’t…

Asensus, Nvidea to collab on AI for surgical robotics

The Intelligent Surgical Unit powers the Senhance surgical robot system. [Image courtesy of Asensus Surgical]Asensus Surgical (NYSE:ASXC) announced today that it entered into a collaboration with Nvidia to accelerate the development of its ISU.

The partnership aims to enhance the ISU (Intelligent Surgical Unit), part of Asensus’ performance-guided surgery offerings. Asensus designed its flagship Senhance surgical robot platform around the ISU. The real-time intraoperative surgical image analytics platform leverages augmented intelligence to reduce surgical variability. It allows the surgeon to measure anatomy, place digital tags, enhance surgical images and utilize AI-driven control of the camera.

Asensus said it linked up with Nvidia, an AI computing leader, to improve the ISU’s ability to deliver novel clinical intelligence to surgeons. Read more on Nvidia and its use of generative AI in the pharmaceutical industry here.

Research Triangle Park…

Stryker launches direct-to-patient marketing campaign for Mako surgical robot

[Image courtesy of Stryker]Stryker (NYSE: SYK) + announced today that it launched a nationwide, direct-to-patient marketing campaign.

The “Scan. Plan. Mako Can.” marketing campaign aims to drive patient awareness of its Mako SmartRobotics platform. The surgical robotic system offers an option for those who need joint replacement surgery due to arthritis of the knee or hip.

“‘Scan. Plan. Mako Can.’ is rooted in the foundation of Mako SmartRobotics,” said Don Payerle, president of Stryker’s Joint Replacement division. “We have an unwavering commitment to revolutionizing joint replacement technology and enabling surgeons to achieve enhanced outcomes for their patients. We are eager to share this campaign with patients experiencing joint pain so they can seek care and begin their journey towards returning to the activities they love.”

The campaign promotes CT-based …

Vicarious Surgical plans for in-human surgical robot trials next year, posts Q2 EPS miss

[Beta 2 surgical robotics system image courtesy of Vicarious Surgical]Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT) shares dipped this morning on second-quarter results despite a positive update on its surgical robot.

Shares of RBOT fell 2.9% to $1.69 apiece in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — stayed even.

The company failed to beat Wall Street expectations but shared good news on the regulatory process for its surgical robot platform. Vicarious Surgical’s approach uses proprietary human-like surgical robots. It transports surgeons inside the patient to perform minimally invasive surgery.

In April, Vicarious completed a design freeze for its Version 1.0 (V1.0) system. Integration and the build of system units remain on track for fall 2023.

Having received some input from the FDA, Vicarious Surgical expects to begin first-in-human trials in mid-2024. The c…

Four-armed surgical robotics system taps a surgeon’s feet for controls

By Brianna Wessling at The Robot Report

A surgeon can control two of this four-armed surgical robotics system’s arms with their hands and the other two with their feet. [Photo courtesy of EPFL]

Researchers at EPFL, a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed a four-armed surgical robotics system that allows surgeons to perform laparoscopic surgeries by controlling two of the robotic arms using haptic foot interfaces. The results were published in The International Journal of Robotics Research.

The research was a collaboration between the research group REHAssist and the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA). It was led by EPFL Ph.D. students Jacob Hernandez and Walid Amanhoud, who developed a system that allows surgeons to control two robotic arms using haptic foot interfaces with five degrees of freedom. In this setup, each of the surgeon’s hands controls a ma…

How surgical robotics leader Intuitive is growing in China

Intuitive Surgical SVP and Asia-Pacific (APAC) GM Glenn Vavoso [Photo courtesy of Intuitive Surgical]

China is the second-largest procedure market for Intuitive Surgical‘s da Vinci system and one of the fastest-growing markets for the surgical robotics developer.

But China’s been a tough country for medical device manufacturers due to the sales and supply chain challenges of COVID-19, the country’s volume-based procurement (VBP) policy, and home-grown competitors.

Glenn Vavoso, SVP and Asia-Pacific (APAC) GM at Intuitive Surgical — one of the world’s largest medical device companies – recently spoke with DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi for the latest edition of Intuitive Talks.

DeviceTalks West: Intuitive President Dave Rosa will be a keynote speaker on Oct. 19

Here are just a few highlights from Vavoso on Intuitive’s experience and activities in Chin…

Moon Surgical thinks Maestro’s light touch can win the surgical robotics arms race

A surgeon using the Moon Surgical Maestro surgical robotics system [Photo courtesy of Moon Surgical]

The Moon Surgical Maestro robotic surgery system faces some stiff competition — and the device developer plans to use that to its advantage.

In an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing, Moon Surgical CEO Ann Osdoit and Chief Technology Officer David Noonan discussed the technology behind what they described as their system’s key benefit: the ability to collaborate with surgeons.

“We’ve built a collaborative robot, which is not necessarily what you typically see out there in the market,” Noonan said. “[Most] robot arms are extremely stiff. If you want to try and grab a hold of that and use it to manipulate it, you can’t because the payload and the stiffness is what’s needed to execute the task.”

But Maestro is designed to let surgeons directl…

Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha offers updates on supply chain, labor, R&D, Hugo and more

Medtronic CEO and Chair Geoff Martha [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]

Medtronic CEO and Chair Geoff Martha spoke today at the Goldman Sachs Annual Global Healthcare Conference, sharing insights on a range of important issues for medtech developers.

Martha — who leads the world’s largest medical device company — offered his latest observations on labor, supply chain issues and international markets. He also discussed plans to increase R&D spending and the latest on Medtronic’s surgical robotics system, Hugo.

The 35-minute interview is already available for replay. The following excerpts have been lightly edited for space and clarity:

Labor issues are abating, allowing for increased procedure volumes

“The labor markets have gotten a little better. Some of the procedures that were lagging were really dependent on labor like TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) and things l…

Q&A with John Mazzola, Vicarious Surgical’s first chief operations officer

Vicarious Surgical Chief Operating Officer John Mazzola [Photo courtesy of Vicarious Surgical]

Capping off a medtech career spanning more than three decades, John Mazzola had only been retired from Becton Dickinson for about a week when Vicarious Surgical co-founder and CEO Adam Sachs hired him to lead strategic manufacturing planning.

One year later, the surgical robotics developer has promoted Mazzola to the newly created position of chief operating officer, covering product development, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, clinical, regulatory, IT, people and culture.

Related: Surgical robotics trends and how to accelerate adoption

Mazzola spoke with Medical Design & Outsourcing about the latest from Waltham, Massachusetts-based Vicarous Surgical (NYSE: RBOT), its plans for manufacturing and outsourcing, the company’s recent layoffs and lessons learned about developing and launching …

First U.S. procedure conducted with Noah Medical surgical robot

The Galaxy System. [Image courtesy of Noah Medical]Noah Medical announced the first use of its Galaxy surgical robot system in the U.S., marking the platform’s commercial release.

San Carlos, California-based Noah Medical received FDA clearance for the Galaxy system in March. The system provides bronchoscopic visualization and access. These capabilities provide diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patient airways.

Galaxy features advanced imaging technologies that provide real-time location updates for potentially cancerous lesions. Noah Medical designed the technology to improve tool-in-lesion and diagnostic yield.

Dr. Kyle Hogarth conducted the first U.S. procedure at the University of Chicago Medicine.

“The Galaxy System is the first robot for peripheral lung navigation that includes integrated imaging, which is the solution bronchoscopists have been asking for,” said Hogarth. “We are excited to be the first hospital in the United States…

Moon Surgical raises $55.4M to support surgical robot platform, names Fred Moll board chair

The Maestro surgical robot. [Image courtesy of Moon Surgical]Moon Surgical announced today that it raised $55.4 million and appointed a surgical robotics veteran as the chair of its board.

The French-American company develops the Maestro system to support surgeons in soft tissue surgical procedures. The platform acts as a robotic surgical assistant to augment the precision and control of laparoscopic surgery.

Moon Surgical’s small, adaptable system can integrate into existing clinical workflows. It features capabilities that bolster operating room efficiency and allow for alternative labor models.

The company earmarked its latest fundraising to support the continued development and planned commercialization for Maestro. Moon Surgical received FDA 510(k) clearance for Maestro in December 2022, followed by CE mark last month. In June 2022, Moon Surgical completed a $31.3 million Series A fundraising.

Sofinnova Partners co-led …

Surgical robotics trends and how to accelerate adoption

Moon Surgical Chief Strategy Officer Jeffery Alvarez. [Photo courtesy of Moon Surgical]

Some of the biggest names in the development of surgical robotics systems and virtual reality training technology discussed robotic surgery trends at DeviceTalks Boston.

Moon Surgical Chief Strategy Officer Jeffery Alvarez, Stryker Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies President Robert Cohen, Osso VR CEO Justin Barad and FundamentalVR CEO and co-founder Richard Vincent see rapid changes ahead for surgical robotics and opportunities to win over surgeons, health systems and patients.

We’ve curated excerpts from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and space.

Trends in surgical robotics

Alvarez: “There’s a transition from building robots that are hyper-specialized in one thing and do one thing really well, to platforms that are looking at how to solve bigger parts of the problem: H…