Left: Vivian Chu and Andrea Thomaz, the co-founders of Diligent Robotics; right: Kathleen Brandes and Ros Shinkle, the co-founders of Adagy Robotics. | Sources: Diligent Robotics, Adagy Robotics

Almost half of all startups that began in 2021 were formed by women, according to human resources cloud software company Gusto. Within the robotics industry, however, it’s a different story. Women make up only 34% of the STEM workforce, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project, and they hold only 16% of robotics and engineering roles. 

Those numbers, however, don’t tell us how many women start robotics companies. There isn’t a lot of data about the number of startups that begin every year or how many robotics companies are operating, in general. Let alone about the backgrounds of the founders behind them. 

To get a picture of how many women are founders of robotics companies, I combed through our 2024 February and March funding recaps. Of the 78 robotics companies that raised money during those two months, and whose founders could be identified, only 10 had a woman on their founding team, just 12.8%.

Of course, this metric doesn’t tell us how many robotics companies in general have female founders, but it does give us a better idea of what that breakdown might look like. This is why I spoke to Ros Shinkle and Kathleen Brandes, the founders of Adagy Robotics, and Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu, the founders of Diligent Robotics, about their experiences within the industry. 

Founders talk about the early days of a startup

Diligent and Adagy are in two very different places as companies. Adagy launched earlier this year, and it specializes in remote intervention services. Shinkle and Brandes are at the beginning of their journey as founders and are part of Y Combinator, a startup accelerator. They’re currently the only employees of the company. 

“Adagy Robotics is currently a remote intervention service for rescuing robots,” said Brandes, the company’s chief technology officer (CTO).

“For example, when a tractor robot fails in the field, instead of calling out to the farmer who has a lot more important things to do in his day, that tractor robot can now call out to our trained operators,” she said. “They’ll take over, drive the robot to safety, and allow it to resume its autonomous operations.”

Adagy looks to a future with AI

Today, Adagy Robotics is starting out with fully human-driven operations, said Shinkle, CEO. In the future, however, the company is interested in layering machine learning and generative AI techniques to assist human operators and allow them to do their jobs more efficiently. The company is also exploring error-prevention techniques for robots. 

“We’re really excited about logistics and manufacturing right now,” Shinkle said. “In particular, I think AMRs [autonomous mobile robots] are widely used in logistics. And although they’re widely used, they still continue to face the same kinds of problems.”

“For example, they often rely on these sort of dense visual clues called fiducials or APR tags to help localize in a facility,” she noted. “If one of those is scuffed or torn or falls down, the robots can get lost. This is a great example of a situation in which we could come in and help the robots get back safely. We’re also excited about manipulation and failed picking tasks as well.”

Shinkle and Brandes described the early days of running a startup as challenging but fun. Every day is about putting out the most urgent fire, said Shinkle.

Ros Shinkle and Kathleen Brandes, the founders of Adagy Robotics, met at Boston Dynamics. Source: Y Combinator

Bringing a startup to maturity 

On the other hand, Diligent Robotics was founded in 2017. Like many robotics companies, Diligent started in a research lab. Thomaz, the company’s co-founder and CEO, was running a robotics lab that Chu, its co-founder and CTO, joined as a Ph.D. student in 2012.

The start of the company was slow, Thomaz said. She was still a professor and Chu a graduate student. Tomaz’s lab earned two National Science Foundation grants that gave Tomaz and Chu the opportunity to learn from around 150 people in the healthcare industry. 

“I don’t know that we would have been able to start this company as two men,” Thomaz said. “Because the thing that we did, for two years at least, was go and embed ourselves in nursing teams, with a robot, and ask nurses, who are 80% women, ‘What would you have this robot do?’”

“I’m not sure we would have been as accepted in that community as a couple of guys with their robot,” she continued. 

Once they had found a use case that would address the needs of the industry, Thomaz and Chu said they spent a summer pitching and looking for venture capital. In total, Thomaz said they spent a year and a half in the research stage before officially launching the company.

Last year, Diligent hit 90 robots working in the field. Its flagship robot, Moxi, aids hospital staffers by performing non-patient-facing tasks like running supplies, delivering lab samples, fetching items from a central supply, distributing personal protective equipment (PPE), and delivering medications. Moxi is now opening 100,000 doors every month across its various deployments.

Diligent is dedicated to diversity

As Diligent Robotics has grown, Thomaz and Chu said they’ve actively tried to keep the company diverse. 

“Early on, we recognized that it’s not only important to have a diverse team, but to have a diverse team at all levels,” Thomaz said. “It’s really good to make sure that your most junior people aren’t the most diverse, and then your more senior people are all one type of person.”

Chu also said the team focused on making job postings well-known among all intersections of the robotics community, instead of just relying on the applications that passively came in. Shinkle echoed similar sentiments when talking about building Adagy’s team as it grows. 

“We believe that diversity is a strength,” Shinkle said. “Diversity of background and diversity of thought leads to stronger problem solving, so that’s definitely a closely held company belief.” 

Female founders find community within the industry 

All four of the women I spoke to both emphasized the importance of finding mentors and a community within the industry. 

“One thing that’s been really helpful is the amazing community, unity, and friendship that women have within the industry,” Brandes said. “We’ve become great friends and are now starting a company together, as one example. And I think fostering that community and having that community continue to grow and expand has been a big component.” 

“For me, it was fantastic seeing these role models that blaze through all of the stereotypes,” Chu said. “It really gives me the confidence to do the same.”

“I’ve had friends that obviously didn’t have that experience, and it’s hard hearing what they’ve had to go through,” she acknolwedged. “I’ve been very lucky to have some amazing champions throughout a lot of my career.” 

The founders also had advice to share with women who are considering starting a robotics company. 

“Reach out to as many people for advice as possible, because there’s so many that have gone through the startup journey,” Chu said. “If you collect a wide variety of people that you can reach out to … you can just continually ask questions.”

“My advice would be to just do it,” Brandes said. “Be confident that your are strong enough and successful enough to do this.” 

“I think robotics is a great place for female leadership,” Thomaz said. “Historically, there’s been a lot of really great trailblazers, and some people who’ve really defined the field like Manuela Veloso and Maya Tarik, and there are a bunch of other people that I’m not naming.”

“But I think that in and of itself makes robotics a great place for women to lead the way in commercialization as well,” she concluded. “It’s a big, broad systems-level problem, which I think requires a diverse solution, and so that’s ripe for a really diverse team.”

Editor’s note: The Robotics Summit & Expo this week will be hosting a Women in Robotics Breakfast and the MassRobotics Engineering Career Fair, among other networking events.

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Titan Medical Inc. this week provided a progress update regarding its planned merger with Conavi Inc. They said the combined entity will continue working to commercialize Conanvi’s Novasight Hybrid system for guiding minimally invasive coronary procedures.

Toronto-based Conavi Medical designs, makes, and sells imaging technologies for guiding cardiovascular procedures. Novasight Hybrid combines intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to enable simultaneous and co-registered imaging of coronary arteries. The system has FDA 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Conavi and Titan said they are continuing work on the all-stock transaction under a definitive amalgamation agreement first announced last month. That includes the preparation of submissions to list Titan shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. That listing would follow de-listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The companies said they also plan to complete Titan’s management information circular and related documents. Titan plans to hold a special meeting for shareholders to approve the transaction and related matters.

In addition, Conavi said it is preparing concurrent financing of subscription receipts worth at least $15 million and up to $20 million.

Titan Medical licenses IP, evaluates options

Toronto-based Titan Medical had developed patented technology for robot-assisted surgery (RAS), including through a single access point. This merger comes after more than a year of uncertainty around the future of the company.

In late 2022, Titan suspended a special meeting of shareholders meant to vote on a share consolidation plan. Management decided to begin a strategic review, and announced significant cost-cutting measures.

Titan went on to halt development of its ENOS surgical robot in February 2023. The company began selling assets and licensed much of its intellectual property (IP) to Intuitive Surgical to avoid insolvency.

The company said it is focused on “evaluating new opportunities to further develop and license its intellectual property while pursuing the completion of its agreed-upon merger with Conavi Medical.”

Editor’s note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report sibling site MassDevice. Learn more about robots for surgery and other applications at next week’s Robotics Summit & Expo and co-located DeviceTalks Boston.

The events will include speakers from Medtronic, Asensus Surgical, Intuitive Surgical, and more, as well as the MassRobotics Healthcare Catalyst Showcase. Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, which also features sessions and exhibits with industry leaders, an Engineering Career Fair, and networking opportunities.

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New offerings include the igusGO AI-driven app and more low-cost automation. Source: igus

At its annual press conference last week, igus GmbH previewed numerous new products in advance of the Hannover Messe trade show. The Cologne, Germany-based company announced 247 new products, including  lubrication-free drives using motion plastics and new robots for educational, service, and industrial applications.

“We’re offering a mobile manipulator for small companies,” said Alexander Mühlens, head of automation technology and robotics at igus. He touted the company’s low-cost automation approach.

“ReBeL on Wheels” combines a collaborative robot arm with an autonomous mobile robot for €17,999 ($19,202 U.S.). An educational version is available for €14,699 ($15,682). igus said that is 10x more affordable than other models, and it is starting to offer the systems in the German market. 

The company, whose U.S. headquarters are in Rumford, R.I., won a 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for a finger gripper to go with the ReBeL cobot. igus will be exhibiting at next week’s Robotics Summit & Expo at Booth 414 in Hall C in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

In addition, Mühlens will present a session at 2:45 p.m. EDT in Room 50 on Wednesday, May 1, on “Automate Your Factory for $2,799.” Registration is now open for the event.

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Tools make robots easier for SMEs to configure

Users can easily add sensors, the igus Robot Control programming software, and a sound bar to ReBeL on Wheels, said Mühlens. The mobile manipulator includes gearboxes using the company’s patented motion plastics.

To help people “try before you buy,” igus allows for free remote testing. “You can scan a QR code into your mobile phone for to test the robot butler,” Mühlens noted.

In addition, the “Envisioner” in igus Robot Control can help robotics developers and integrators, he said. The Configurator in the RBTX online marketplace shows the center of gravity for every part in a delta robot cell, allowing the system to easily pick and place them.

“It automatically knows the center of gravity, and you can just buy the webcam for under €100 [$106.67],” said Mühlens. “We’ll be picking RBTX chocolates at Hannover Messe.”

“Everyone is looking for solutions for screwing and gluing in the furniture industry, for instance,” he said. “Now with RBTX and our 3D machine planner, you can combine robots with grippers and conveyors into cells for one fixed price.”

In fact, igus uses AI so that if a user uploads a photo, it can give a 3D recommendation.

“With the Configurator, a customer can take a few steps and get a live price,” Mühlens explained. “For example, you could choose ReBeL and a gripper for a cell, get measurements within the program, download files, and check out all the parts and prices. You can also choose an installation and buildup service or do it yourself.”

igus said its new machine planner offers small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) the ability to define cobot workspaces, build around its robots, and choose robot housings.

Motion-plastic parts get four-year guarantee

Machine failures due to insufficient lubrication cost $750 billion annually, and more than 24 million tons of lubricant seep into water and soil every year, according to igus. The company said its self-lubricating, high-performance polymers, as well as the use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality in design, can reduce such costly waste.

This year, igus is extending its four-year product guarantee to all of its dry-tech products. It also offers free replacement of bearings, drives, 3D-printed parts, and linear actuators.

These moves demonstrate the company’s confidence in their long service life and consciousness of the importance of sustainability in Industry 4.0, said Stefan Niermann, vice president and head of the drylin division, and Rainer Rössel, vice president and head of the chainflex division at igus.

“The performance of motion plastics is often underestimated,” added Lars Butenschön, business unit manager for iglidur bearings at igus. He cited their utility in construction and agriculture. The company is also offering new high-load bearings for heavy machinery in its “Zero Lubrication” range. 

In addition, lubrication-free bearings are suitable for food and packaging applications, said Michael Offner, vice president and head of industry management at the family-owned company.

“An enormous range of applications could use them,” noted Tobias Vogel, igus’ CEO of bearings and linear technology. With the igusGO app, machine builders can use voice controls and AI chat to configure excavators with such parts, he said.

As electrification garners more interest worldwide, particularly in e-mobility, battery production, and shore power, motion plastics can be an enabling technology, asserted Martin Tiling, head of igus’ shore power business unit.

igus reports €1.13B turnover, launches bike brand

After generating €1.15 billion ($1.23 billion) in 2022, igus reported €1.13 billion ($1.21 billion) for 2023. While the global economic slowdown affected the company, it is still approaching its goal of 1 million industrial customers per year, stated Michael Blass, managing director of e-chain systems.

“We are therefore pleased that we have at least come a little closer to this goal in a difficult year,” he said. “We have invested €433 million [$464.6 million] in this plan over the last three years, €210 million [$224.8 million] of which at the Cologne site.”

igus has invested in expanded production in Germany and the U.S., accelerating fulfillment of orders to within a few days, and continuing research and development, according to Blass. It is also planning construction in China, Taiwan, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, Mexico, and Turkey.

To demonstrate its motion plastics at human rather than industrial scale, the company has developed the igus:bike from recycled materials. The bicycle, which won’t rust and can be recycled itself, is now going into serial production under the new brand name RCYL. It will go on the market in Germany for €1,200 ($1,284) this year.

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Intuitive placed eight of its next-generation da Vinci 5 systems in the first quarter of 2024. | Source: Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical Inc. yesterday posted first-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s consensus forecast while increasing its forecast for full-year procedure growth.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based surgical robotics leader reported profits of $545 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2024, up 53% from the first quarter of 2023. Total revenue was $1.89 billion for the quarter, up 11% from the same period a year ago.

Intuitive cited growth in the volume of robot-assisted surgical procedures and an increase in its installed base of systems. Global da Vinci procedures grew approximately 16% from the same quarter a year ago. The company, which traded as ISRG, placed 313 da Vinci surgical systems during the quarter, compared with 312 from the prior-year period.

Intuitive’s total installed base climbed to 8,887 systems, up 14% from a year ago. Eight of the systems placed in the first quarter of 2024 were Intuitive’s next-generation da Vinci 5.

“The core measures of our business remained healthy this quarter, as we reached meaningful milestones across several parts of our business,” said Intuitive CEO Gary Guthart in a release. “We are pleased by feedback from our measured da Vinci 5 launch, as well as the continued adoption of SP and Ion, and we remain focused on delivering the goals we share with our customers, including improving patient outcomes.”

Intuitive also reports increasing accessory sales

Intuitive reported an 18% increase in sales of instruments and accessories to $1.16 billion, driven by the growth of da Vinci procedure volume and a 90% growth in Ion procedure volume.

Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share (EPS) were $1.50, $0.09 ahead of the Street, where analysts were looking for EPS of $1.41 on sales of $1.87 billion. The company increased its forecast for full-year procedure growth from a 13% to 16% range to 14% to 17%.

“The low end of the range assumes further weakness and bariatric procedures along with challenges in China from increasing provincial robotic competition and delayed tenders impacting capital placements and therefore procedure growth,” said Brian King, head of investor relations at Intuitive, on a call with executives to discuss the results. “We also assume there is no benefit patient backlog in the year.”

“At the high end of the range, we assume bariatrics continues at flat to slightly positive growth rates, and factors in China don’t have a significant impact on our business,” he added. “In addition, we assume any backlog of patients would decline throughout the year.”

Investors reacted positively to the results, with ISRG shares rising 3% to $385 apiece in after-hours trading.

Learn more at DeviceTalks Boston, Robotics Summit

Brian Miller, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Intuitive Surgical, will be keynoting DeviceTalks Boston, which is co-located with the Robotics Summit & Expo. The events takes place on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention Center.

Miller’s talk is slated for 4:15 p.m. ET on the first day of the event. 

According to WTWH Media, which produces The Robot Report, the Robotics Summit, MassDevice, and DeviceTalks, this will be the largest one yet. The event will include more than 200 exhibitors, various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a career fair, an engineering theater, a startup showcase, and more! Registration is now open for the event.

Editor’s note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report sibling site MassDevice.

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Chinese and U.S. companies led March 2024 robotics investments. Credit: Eacon Mining, Dan Kara

Thirty-seven robotics firms received funding in March 2024, pulling in a total monthly investment of $642 million. March’s investment figure was significantly less than February’s mark of approximately $2 billion, but it was in keeping with other monthly investments in 2023 and early 2024 (see Figure 1, below).

California companies secure investment

As described in Table 1 below, the two largest robotics investments in March were secured by software suppliers. Applied Intuition, a provider of software infrastructure to deploy autonomous vehicles at scale, received a $250 million Series E round, while Physical Intelligence, a developer of foundation models and other software for robots and actuated devices, attracted $70 million in a seed round. Both firms are located in California.

Other California firms receiving substantial rounds included Bear Robotics, a manufacturer of self-driving indoor robots that raised a $60 million Series C round, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) developer Firestorm, whose seed funding was $20 million. For a PDF version of Table 1, click here.

March 2024 robotics investments

Drones get fuel for takeoff in March 2024

Providers of drones, drone technologies, and drone services also attracted substantial individual investments in March 2024. Examples included Firestorm and Gather AI, a developer of inventory monitoring drones whose Series A was $17 million.

In addition, drone services provider Preneu obtained $11 million in Series B funding, and DRONAMICS, a developer of drone technology for cargo transportation and logistics operations, got a grant worth $10.8 million.

Companies in U.S. and China received the majority of the March 2024 funding, at $451 million and $100 million, respectively (see Figure 2, below).

Companies based in Japan and the U.K. were also well represented among the March 2024 investment totals. Four companies in Japan secured a total of $34.7 million, while an equal number of firms in the U.K. attracted $13.5 million in funding.

Nearly 40% of March’s robotics investments came from a single Series E round — that of Applied Intuition. The remaining funding classes were all represented in March 2024 (Figure 3, below).

Editor’s notes

What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investing

Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companies

Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification

Funding information is collected from several public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.

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maxon says it can provide all key components of a tightly integrated robotics drive from a single source. | Source: maxon

maxon group has launched its new drive systems portfolio specifically designed for modern robotics applications. The company said it believes that developers and startups should focus on their core value drivers and challenges and leave it to maxon to take care of key complexities typically associated with robotic actuators, including high performance, reliability, supply chains, integration, and testing. 

Modern robots require highly scalable manufacturing of complex and high-performance actuators, asserted maxon. Therefore, robustness and reliability are key, especially for systems operate in unstructured environments, the company added. maxon said this is one of its strengths because it designs and tests all of its robotics products to the highest quality standards. 

The Sachsein, Switzerland-based company’s new portfolio contains 15 different actuators divided into two families: High Efficiency Joints and High Precision Joints. It said each provides unique benefits to address a broad range of industrial applications. 

maxon’s High Efficiency Joint line

The High Efficiency Joints integrate torque-dense electric motors from maxon’s EC frameless DT motor lineup, planetary gears, electronics, sensing, and support structures into a fully integrated IP67 ingress-protected actuator unit. 

maxon said this line of joints can achieve up to 86% efficiencies and can output high continuous power, thanks to their integrated cooling capabilities. The joint line’s control system can be configured flexibly and support independent control of the joint. 

Target applications are mobile robots in unstructured environments, explained maxon. This includes humanoids, quadrupeds, exoskeletons, or mobile manipulators. The company said its systems enable roboticists to quickly create a high-performing robot that follows modern design principles such as those dictated by deep reinforcement learning and related simulation approaches. 

Thje new High-Efficiency Joint HEJ 90-48-140 provides 140 Nm and 13 rad/s at the joint, is IP67 rated, and contains electronics and sensors for modern robotics control systems. | Source: maxon

maxon targets systems integrators with High Precision Joints

The High Precision Joints are more configurable systems based on strain-wave gearboxes and high-resolution output encoders, said maxon. While these actuators also feature torque-dense electric motors, the company said it’s targeting systems integrators. It said hopes to enable them to quickly create robotics systems like collaborative or industrial manipulators or surgical robots. 

maxon’s High Precision Joints allow the creation of well-optimized robots. When combined with its customer-facing robotics design simulation, optimization, and consulting services, the company said it can ensure that customers obtain the right systems for their applications. 

maxon is a fully vertically integrated provider of actuation systems ranging from brushed to brushless motors, sensors, gears, and electronics. The company said this enables it to provide robotics actuators that are high-performing, low-cost, and adaptive to customer requirements.

maxon’s High Precision Joints feature strain-wave gearboxes with no backlash and high-resolution output encoders. | Source: maxon

See maxon at webinar and Robotics Summit & Expo

Carsten Horn, applications engineering manager at maxon, and Dario Renggli, business development engineer at maxon, will participate in a free webinar at noon EDT on Wednesday, April 17, on “Motion Control for Healthcare Robotics Applications.”

In addition, Tobias Wellerdieck, head of robotic drive systems at maxon, will be speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. His talk, “Holistic Drive System Optimization for Robotics,” will discuss the challenges that come with developing robotic systems for new, complex markets. 

maxon will also be exhibiting on the Robotics Summit & Expo show floor at Booth 327. The company is also a Gold Sponsor of the event. Registration is now open.

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State-of-the-art surgical and healthcare robotics depend on precise motion control. Source: maxon

Technological advances continue to drive growing adoption of robotics in healthcare, particularly for surgical applications. Robots promise to enhance precision and safety, with 5% to 10% of robot-assisted procedures reportedly resulting in positive patient outcomes.

The global market for surgical robots is about $18 billion and could grow to $83 billion by 2032, according to Statzon. In addition, a Bain & Co. study found that 78% of U.S. surgeons are interested in robotics, but many procedures have yet to benefit from automation.

Robotics developers, suppliers, and integrators, as well as healthcare providers and practitioners, should understand how the latest, best-in-class motion-control components can improve accuracy and enable the next generation of patient care.

Learn more about motion control for healthcare robotics applications in a free webinar at noon EDT on Wednesday, April 17.

How to build better healthcare robotics

In this webinar, Carsten Horn, applications engineering manager at maxon, and Dario Renggli, business development engineer at maxon, will join Eugene Demaitre, editorial director for robotics at WTWH Media.

Horn has more than 20 years of engineering and research and development experience with robotics. Renggli specializes in healthcare applications and works at maxon’s headquarters in Switzerland. They will discuss the following topics:

• Trends in customer demands and designing for the future
• The industry’s needs for precise actuation and motion-control systems
• The pace of healthcare robotics development
• How regulatory requirements affect the design of surgical systems
• Common challenges for healthcare robot controls
• Considerations for off-the-shelf components and subassemblies versus custom designs
• The growing importance of software and artificial intelligence
• How to identify and partner with product and service providers

Register now to watch this webinar and have your questions answered live. This robotics engineering conversation will be available on demand after the broadcast date.

Sponsors:

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AMD’s Kria K26 SOM will power the hardware with the BlackBerry QNX SDP. | Source: AMD

BlackBerry Ltd. announced at Embedded World this week that it is collaborating with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The partners said they want to enable next-generation robotics by reducing latency and jitter and with “repeatable determinism.”

The companies said they will jointly “address the critical need for ‘hard’ real-time capabilities in robotics-focused hardware.” BlackBerry and AMD plan to release an affordable system-on-module (SOM) platform that delivers enhanced performance, reliability, and scalability for robotic systems in industrial healthcare. 

This platform will combine BlackBerry’s QNX expertise in real-time foundational software and the QNX Software Development Platform (SDP) with heterogeneous hardware powered by the AMD Kria K26 SOM. It features both Arm and FPGA (field programmable gate array) logic-based architecture.

“With the QNX Software Development Platform, customers can start development quickly on the AMD Kria KR260 Starter Kit and seamlessly scale to other higher-performance AMD platforms as their needs evolve,” stated Chetan Khona, senior director of industrial, vision, healthcare, and sciences markets at AMD.

“Combining the industry-leading strengths of AMD and QNX will provide a foundation platform that opens new doors for innovation and takes the future of robotics technology well beyond the constraints experienced until now,” he said.

BlackBerry, AMD provide capabilities with less latency

With Kria, an Arm sub-system can power the advanced capabilities of the QNX microkernel real-time operation system (RTOS), said Advanced Micro Devices and BlackBerry. It can do this while allowing users to run low-latency, deterministic functions on the programmable logic of the AMD Kria KR260 robotics starter kit. 

This combination enables sensor fusion, high-performance data processing, real-time control, industrial networking, and reduced latency in robotics applications, said the companies.

They added that customers can benefit from integration and optimization of software and hardware components. This results in streamlined development processes and accelerated time to market for robotics innovations, said AMD and BlackBerry. 

“An integrated solution by BlackBerry QNX through our collaboration with AMD will provide an integrated software-hardware foundation offering real-time performance, low latency, and determinism to ensure that critical robotic tasks are executed with the same level of precision and responsiveness every single time,” said Grant Courville, vice president of product and strategy at BlackBerry QNX.

“These are crucial attributes for industries carrying out finely tuned operations, such as the fast-growing industries of autonomous mobile robots and surgical robotics” he added. “Together with AMD, we are committed to driving technological advancements that address some of these most complex challenges and transform the future of the robotics industry.”

The integrated system is now available to customers.

See AMD at Robotics Summit & Expo

For more than 50 years, Advanced Micro Devices has been a leading innovator in high-performance computing (HPC), graphics, and visualization technologies. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company noted that billions of people, Fortune 500 businesses, and scientific research institutions worldwide rely on its technology daily.

AMD recently released the Embedded+ HPC architecture, the Spartan UltraScale+ FPGA family, and Versal Gen 2 for AI and edge processing.

Kosta Sidopoulos, a product engineer at AMD, will be speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. His talk on “Enabling Next-Gen AI Robotics” will delve into the unique features and capabilities of AMD’s AI-enabled products. It will highlight their adaptability and scalability for diverse robotics applications.

Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will feature more than 70 speakers, 200 exhibitors, and up to 5,000 attendees, as well as numerous networking opportunities.

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Collaborative Robotics has been developing a system for trustworthy operations. Source: Adobe Stock, Photoshopped by The Robot Report

Collaborative Robotics today closed a $100 million Series B round on the road to commercializing its autonomous mobile manipulator. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it is developing robots that can safely and affordably work alongside people in varied manufacturing, supply chain, and healthcare workflows. In many cases, this is the same work that humanoid robots are jockeying for.

Brad Porter, a former distinguished engineer and vice president of robotics at Amazon, founded Collaborative Robotics in 2022. The Cobot team includes robotics and artificial intelligence experts from Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, NASA, Waymo, and more.

“Getting our first robots in the field earlier this year, coupled with today’s investment, are major milestones as we bring cobots with human-level capability into the industries of today,” stated Porter. “We see a virtuous cycle, where more robots in the field lead to improved AI and a more cost-effective supply chain. This funding will help us accelerate getting more robots into the real world.”

The Robot Report caught up with Porter to learn more about the company and its product since our last conversation in July 2023, when Cobot raised its $30 million Series A.

Nothing to see here

Collaborative Robotics has been secretive about the design of its robot. You won’t find any photos of the cobot on the company’s site or anywhere else on the Web yet.

However, Porter told The Robot Report that it is already in trials with several pilot customers, including a global logistics company. He described the machine as a mobile manipulator, with roughly the stature of a human. However, it’s not a humanoid, nor does it have a six degree-of-freedom arm or a hand with fingers.

“When talking about general-purpose robots versus special-purpose robots, we know what humanoids look like, but with a new morphology, we want to protect it for a while,” he said. “We’ve been looking at humanoids for a long time, but in manufacturing, secondary material flow is designed around humans and carts. Hospitals, airports, and stadiums are usually designed around people flow. A huge amount of people is still moving boxes, totes, and carts around the world.”

The new cobot’s base is capable of omnidirectional motion with four wheels and a swerve-drive design, along with a central structure that can acquire, carry, and place totes and boxes around the warehouse. It is just under 6 ft. (2 m) tall and can carry up to 75 lb. (34 kg), said Porter.

The robot can also engage and move existing carts with payloads weighing up to 1,500 lb. (680 kg) around the warehouse. How the robot engages carts remains part of the mystery. But by automating long-distance moves and using existing cart infrastructure, Porter said he believes that the Collaborative Robotics system is differentiated from both mobile robot platforms and humanoid competitors.

“We looked at use cases for humanoids at Amazon, but you don’t actually want the complexity of a humanoid; you want something that’s stable and could move faster than people,” Porter added. “There are orders of magnitude more mobile robots than humanoids in day-to-day use, and at $300,000 to $600,000 per robot, the capital to build the first 10 humanoids is very high. We want to get robots into the field faster.”

Collaborative Robotics has kept its actual robot out of public view. | Source: Adobe Stock image Photoshopped by The Robot Report

Robots must be trustworthy

Porter said that he “believes that robots need to be trustworthy, in addition to being safe. This philosophy is driving the design and user-interface decisions that the company has made so far. Users need to understand what the robot should do by looking at it, unlike some of the existing designs of mobile robots currently on the market.”

In addition to a human-centered design approach, Collaborative Robotics is using off-the-shelf parts to reduce the robot bill of materials cost and simplify the supply chain as it begins the process of commercialization. It is also taking a “building-block” approach to hardware and plans to adjust software and machine learning for navigation and learning new tasks.

“The robot we’ve designed is 70% off-the-shelf parts, and we can design around existing motors, while every humanoid company is hand-winding its own motors to find advanced actuation capabilities,” Porter noted. “We designed the system digitally, so we don’t have to hand-tweak a bunch of things. By using 3D lidar, we know the state of the art of the technology, and it’s easier to safety-qualify.”

With large language models (LLMs), Porter said he sees the day when someone in a hospital or another facility can just tell a robot to go away. “It’s about user interaction rather than just safety, which is table stakes,” he said. “We think a lot about trustworthiness.”

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Collaborative Robotics preps for commercialization

General Catalyst led Collaborative Robotics’ Series B round, with participation from Bison Ventures, Lux Capital, and Industry Ventures. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Neo, 1984 Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures also participated.

Since its founding in 2022, Cobot said it has raised more than $140 million. The company plans to grow its headcount from 35, adding production, sales, and support staffers.

In addition, Collaborative Robotics announced that Teresa Carlson will be joining it as an advisor on go to market at scale and industry transformation. She held leadership roles at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Splunk, and Flexport.

“I’m super-excited to be working with Teresa,” said Porter. “We’ve kept up since Amazon, and she thinks a lot about digital transformation at a very large scale — federal government and industry. She brings a wealth of knowledge about economics that will elevate the scope of what we’re doing.”

Paul Kwan, managing director at General Catalyst, is joining Alfred Lin from Sequoia on Collaborative Robotics’ board of directors. 

“In our view, Brad and Cobot are spearheading the future of human-robot interaction,” said Kwan. “We believe the Cobot team is world-class at building the necessary hardware, software, and institutional trust to achieve their vision.”

Editor’s note: Eugene Demaitre contributed to this article.

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I believe 2024 will be remembered as the year when the surgical robotics sector — not just one company — planted both feet on the ground, slowly rose up, and stood tall in the medical device industry.

Why? I’ll give you five reasons:

1. FDA approval of the da Vinci 5

Intuitive’s da Vinci 5 is the device developer’s fifth-generation system. | Credit: Intuitive Surgical

 

The approval and slow release of the next-generation da Vinci 5 reasserted Intuitive Surgical’s dominance. It may have also changed the business.

In our DeviceTalks Weekly interview, Joe Mullings, chair and CEO of The Mullings Group, an executive search firm that has worked extensively in the sector, said competitors building large surgical robotic units will have a difficult time keeping up with the da Vinci 5’s new features. 

But the bigger impact may be a smaller footprint and new leasing arrangement that could open up markets in smaller healthcare facilities to Intuitive.

“Robotic-assisted surgery-as-a-service is what Intuitive is pushing here,” Mullings said.

The interview is available on DeviceTalks.com, a sibling site to The Robot Report, or the DeviceTalks YouTube channel.

2. The emergence of smaller consoles

CMR Surgical’s Versius surgical robotics system | Credit: CMR Surgical

 

Intuitive’s move isn’t likely to impede companies that have built — and are obtaining regulatory approval for — smaller systems that open up the market for surgical robotic systems.

On May 2, I’ll talk with the senior executive team at CMR Surgical — CEO Supratim Bose, Chief Medical Officer Mark Slack, and Chief Technology Officer Luke Hares — about their commercial plans for Versius. The modular and portable robot can be moved from one operating room to another and has been used to perform more than 20,000 surgeries across seven specialties.

Co-founders Slack and Hares “created a system that could be adapted to any operating room,” Bose told MassDevice. “The hospitals, in terms of resources and investments overall for the life of this system, find Versius more of a value to them.”

Earlier this year, Virtual Incision grabbed national headlines by sending a version of its MIRA mobile surgical robotic system to the International Space Station. The publicity surrounding this news focused attention on the company’s true goal of making every operating room a surgical robotic suite.

In a DeviceTalks Weekly interview, CEO John Murphy said Virtual Incision’s robotic arm, which is fastened to the surgical table and doesn’t require a base console like other systems, will make robotics possible for integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that can’t currently afford or accommodate a standard surgical robot.

Similarly, Distalmotion is poised for success with its Dexter robot, which doesn’t require a dedicated room and has disposable instruments that don’t require sterilization after use. CEO Greg Roche, who will speak at DeviceTalks Boston, said the smaller system puts the company in a position to go where patients are seeking care.

3. The drive for remote connection

Virtual Incision’s space excursion aside, surgical robotics companies recognize the importance of remote connection. At DeviceTalks Boston, we’ll have presentations from Intuitive and Medtronic focusing on the long-distance reach of their systems.

But we’re also seeing the emergence of an infrastructure built to support remote surgery. To some, 5G presents the conduit for steady connection. But serial entrepreneur Yulun Wang, who could be described as the founder of the surgical robotics sector, co-founded Sovato Health to develop a different network employing existing infrastructure of fiber-optic cables.

Wang has a knack for getting ahead of trends. He founded Computer Motion in 1990, five years before the launch of Intuitive. The companies would merge 13 years later as a resolution of a patent dispute, freeing Wang to co-found telehealth company nTouch, which was acquired by Teladoc in 2020.

Wang and Sovato co-founder and CEO Cynthia Perazzo said patients are comfortable with remote care, thanks in part to the pandemic. Regulators and hospitals also see the need for surgeons to extend their reach.

“A third of U.S. counties don’t have a single surgeon,” Perazzo said in a recent DeviceTalks Weekly interview.

On the technical side, Sovato execs said the current telecommunication network can handle the traffic. Wang recalled that the world’s first transatlantic surgery performed on a Computer Motion system in 2000 ran on an ATM line monitored by 15 engineers. Today, fiber-optic cables are plentiful.

Finally, robotic surgery companies are building systems that can be controlled remotely. In a DeviceTalks Boston keynote, Brian Miller, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Intuitive Surgical, will cover many of da Vinci’s 5’s new features, including its potential for remote surgery.

At the close of the conference, Rajit Kamal, vice president and general manager of surgical robotics at Medtronic, will demonstrate the remote functionality of Hugo RAS in a joint keynote for attendees of DeviceTalks Boston and the co-located Robotics Summit & Expo.

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4. The power of AI

The ongoing adoption of artificial intelligence will certainly accelerate the development of robot-assisted surgery. AI already has made a massive impact on the medical device industry.

Semiconductor chip giant NVIDIA added a tanker of gasoline to that fire at its 2024 GPU Technology Conference (GTC), launching close to two dozen new AI-powered, healthcare-focused tools and announcing partnerships with GE Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson.

NVIDIA already had been working with Asensus Surgical and Medtronic.

Intuitive’s Miller and Medtronic’s Kamal both intend to cover AI-powered functionality in their DeviceTalks Boston talks.

5. Experienced competition emerging

Quantum Surgical’s Epione system. | Credit: Quantum Surgical

 

The surgical robotics sector has been around enough to produce executives who have enjoyed successful outcomes. Now they’re back for more.

Former leaders from Auris Surgical Robotics, for example, are leading startups like Moon Surgical and Noah Medical.

Before becoming Distalmotion’s CEO, Roche served as global president for robotics and technology at Zimmer Biomet, where he led the successful global launch of the ROSA Robotic Knee System.

Quantum Surgical CEO Bertin Nahum led an earlier part of the ROSA story. Nahum founded one of the first successful surgical robotics companies, Medtech S.A., which was sold to Zimmer Biomet in 2016.

Nahum will speak at DeviceTalks Boston about Quantum’s Epione system, an open robotic system that brings image-guided precision to minimally invasive cancer ablation.

Finally, Stryker, one of the more experienced players in surgical robotics and the leader in hard-tissue systems, could be considering a move into soft-tissue robotics.

“We believe we are a great robotics organization,” said Spencer Stiles, group president for orthopedics and spine at Stryker, in an upcoming DeviceTalks podcast. “We remain a passionate M&A company. And so you can imagine our adjacencies, that’s an area that we continue to assess. There’s some neat technology out there for sure.”

Erik Todd, vice president and general manager of robotics and enabling technology at Stryker, will give an update on the MAKO System at DeviceTalks Boston.

So this is why we focused so much of DeviceTalks Boston on surgical robotics, but even I’m surprised at the pace at which the space is moving

If you had asked me in January, I’m not sure I would have said we’d see a new da Vinci approved by the FDA, a surgical robotics system launched into space, and a mid-tier player like Karl Storz looking to change the game by buying a small, but tested, surgical robotics company like Asensus Surgical.

This is 2024. Almost anything can happen. Join us at DeviceTalks Boston to find out what’s next.

The post 5 things that could shape surgical robotics in the next decade appeared first on The Robot Report.

The AMD Versal AI Edge and Prime Gen 2 are next-gen SoCs. Source: Advanced Micro Devices

To enable more artificial intelligence on edge devices such as robots, hardware vendors are adding to their processor portfolios. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today announced the expansion of its adaptive system on chip, or SoC, line with the new AMD Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 and Versal Prime Series Gen 2.

“The demand for AI-enabled embedded applications is exploding and driving the need for solutions that bring together multiple compute engines on a single chip for the most efficient end-to-end acceleration within the power and area constraints of embedded systems,” stated Salil Raje, senior vice president and general of the Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group at AMD.

“Based on over 40 years of adaptive computing leadership in high-security, high-reliability, long-lifecycle, and safety-critical applications, these latest-generation Versal devices offer high compute efficiency and performance on a single architecture that scales from the low end to high end,” he added.

For more than 50 years, AMD said it has been a leading innovator in high-performance computing (HPC), graphics, and visualization technologies. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company noted that billions of people, Fortune 500 businesses, and scientific research institutions worldwide rely on its technology daily.

Versal Gen 2 addresses three phases of accelerated AI

Advanced Micro Devices said the Gen 2 systems put preprocessing, AI inference, and postprocessing on a single device to deliver accelerated AI. This provides the optimal mix for accelerated AI meet the complex processing needs of real-world embedded systems, it asserted.

• Preprocessing: The new systems include FPGA (field-programmable gate array) logic fabric for real-time preprocessing; flexible connections to a wide range of sensors; and implementation of high-throughput, low-latency data-processing pipelines.
• AI inference: AMD said it provides an array of vector processes in the form of next-generation AI Engines for efficient inference.
• Postprocessing: Arm CPU cores provide the power needed for complex decision-making and control for safety-critical applications, said AMD.

“This single-chip intelligence can eliminate the need to build multi-chip processing solutions, resulting in smaller, more efficient embedded AI systems with the potential for shorter time to market,” the company said.

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AMD builds to maximize power and compute

AMD said its latest systems offer up to 10x more scalar compute compared with the first generation, so the devices can more efficiently handle sensor processing and complex scalar workloads. The Versal Prime Gen 2 devices include new hard IP for high-throughput video processing, including up to 8K multi-channel worflows.

This makes the scalable portfolio suitable for applications such as ultra-high-definition (UHD) video streaming and recording, industrial PCs, and flight computers, according to the company.

In addition, the new SoCs include new AI Engines that AMD claimed will deliver three times the TOPS (trillions of operations per second) per watt than the first-generation Versal AI Edge Series devices.

“Balancing performance, power, [and] area, together with advanced functional safety and security, Versal Series Gen 2 devices deliver new capabilities and features,” said AMD. It added that they “enable the design of high-performance, edge-optimized products for the automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, vision, healthcare, broadcast, and pro AV [autonomous vehicle] markets.”

“Single-chip intelligence for embedded systems will enable pervasive AI, including robotics … smart city, cloud and AI, and the digital home,” said Manuel Uhm, director for Versal marketing at AMD, in a press briefing. “All will need to be accelerated.”

The Versal Prime Gen 2 is designed for high-throughput applications such as video processing. Source: AMD

Versal powers Subaru’s ADAS vision system

Subaru Corp. is using AMD’s adaptive SoC technology in current vehicles equipped with its EyeSight advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS). EyeSight is integrated into certain car models to enable advanced safety features including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and pre-collision braking.

“Subaru has selected Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 to deliver the next generation of automotive AI performance and safety for future EyeSight-equipped vehicles,” said Satoshi Katahira. He is general manager of the Advanced Integration System Department and ADAS Development Department, Engineering Division, at Subaru.

“Versal AI Edge Gen 2 devices are designed to provide the AI inference performance, ultra-low latency, and functional safety capabilities required to put cutting-edge AI-based safety features in the hands of drivers,” he added.

Vivado and Vitis part of developer toolkits

AMD said its Vivado Design Suite tools and libraries can help boost productivity and streamline hardware design cycles, offering fast compile times and enhanced-quality results. The company said the Vitis Unified Software Platform “enables embedded software, signal processing, and AI design development at users’ preferred levels of abstraction, with no FPGA experience needed.”

Earlier this year, AMD released the Embedded+ architecture for accelerated edge AI, as well as the Spartan UltraScale+ FPGA family for edge processing.

Early-access documentation for Versal Series Gen 2 is now available, along with first-generation Versal evaluation kits and design tools. AMD said it expects Gen 2 silicon samples to be available in the first half of 2025, followed by evaluation kits and system-on-modules samples in mid-2025, and production silicon in late 2025.

The post AMD releases Versal Gen 2 to improve support for embedded AI, edge processing appeared first on The Robot Report.

The Intelligent Surgical Unit powers the Senhance surgical robot system. | Source: Asensus Surgical

Asensus Surgical Inc. today announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent for medical device company Karl Storz SE to acquire it.

The agreement enables Karl Storz to engage in due diligence and negotiations over a potential acquisition of the surgical robot maker. Asensus and Karl Storz began ollaborating on plans for development and marketing just over a year ago.

Entry into the letter of intent (LOI) follows an extensive period of consideration of strategic alternatives, stated Asensus. That included potential collaborations and licensing transactions, a “go-it-alone” strategy reliant upon significant fundraising, a sale of the company, or additional development transactions.

Instead, the company’s board approved the LOI with Karl Storz, which includes a proposal to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Asensus common stock at 35¢ per share in cash. That represents a 66.7% premium to the closing price of Asensus stock on April 2, 2024. Karl Storz said that the proposed price represents its “best and final offer.”

Asensus developing Senhance, Intelligent Surgical Unit

Research Triangle Park, N.C-based Asensus is developing the Senhance surgical robot. It has also developed the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) for Senhance.

The company said it designed ISU as a real-time intraoperative surgical image analytics platform. It uses “augmented intelligence” to help reduce surgical variability.

Asensus unveiled its the next-generation LUNA robot in February 2023. The integrated digital system features a next-generation surgical platform and instruments, plus real-time intraoperative clinical intelligence. Its final component, a secure cloud platform, applies machine learning to deliver clinical insights.

The company suggested last year that it targeted 2025 for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for LUNA. In November, Asensus inked a manufacturing deal for its platform.

In January 2024, the company showed LUNA off to surgeons, conducting an in vivo lab evaluation of the next-generation surgical robot. 

More details on the LOI

The letter of intent provides that, during an exclusivity period of up to 10 weeks, Asensus won’t engage in negotiations for alternative transactions. During that period, Karl Storz intends to conduct diligence as the companies negotiate a merger. Both companies have the right to terminate pursuit of the proposed transaction.

In connection with the LOI, Asensus entered into a fully secured promissory note or bridge loan with Karl Storz. This allows the company to receive a loan of up to $20 million from Karl Storz to support operations through the exclusivity period and beyond.

The companies said they plan to work during the exclusivity period to negotiate and finalize a merger agreement. If agreed, Asensus said it would then plan to quickly secure stockholder approval.

Asensus said it can’t provide any assurances of a final agreement with Karl Storz.

Asensus Surgical to speak at Robotics Summit

Dustin Vaughan, vice president of robotics research and development at Asensus, will be speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place on May 1-2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

His talk, “Leveraging Real-Time Data Insights in the Operating Room” will explore the development and introduction of cutting-edge technologies, sensing modalities, and real-time data collection capabilities of the LUNA Surgical Platform and the practical implementation of those capabilities.

The Robotics Summit & Expo focuses on the design, development, and scaling of commercial robots. WTWH Media, which also produces The Robot Report, said it expects a record 5,000 attendees and more than 200 exhibitors. The event will be co-located with DeviceTalks, an event focused on medical devices, and the inaugural Digital Transformation Forum. Registration is now open for the event.

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Editor’s Note: This article was syndicated from MassDevice, a sibling site to The Robot Report.

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Chris Johnson predicts that future medical robots will be used more to provide patients with emotional support than as tools. | Source: SMB Bearings

Robots are on the rise in medical environments and are being increasingly relied upon to carry out more complex procedures. Although martensitic stainless steels have been favored for bearings in robot applications, their performance is falling short against rising standards to prevent contamination in medical environments.

GlobalData predicted that the medical robotics market will rise from $4.7 billion in 2020 to $14.5 billion in 2030. The analyst firm said those robots will “be cast more as companions providing emotional support, rather than seen as tools.” The quote refers to artificial intelligence becoming more advanced, allowing robots to offer more therapeutic support to patients in ways we can’t imagine today and to counter staff shortages.

From surgical assistance robots that help perform minimally invasive procedures to therapeutic robots to aid rehabilitation for injuries and paralysis, the technology has come a long way since simple robotic arms were first introduced in the 1980s. Although surgical robots are becoming cheaper, modern medical applications are also demanding higher precision and speed capabilities from these robots. 

Traditionally, in medical instruments, bearings — which optimize the rotation of axes in robot arms by limiting or avoiding friction and jolts — have been made from high-purity metals such as martensitic stainless steel. Examples include medical robots that help undertake keyhole surgery where the utmost precision is required. Surgical robot bearings must deliver the highest possible rotational accuracy while also being small enough to fit into these often compact and portable hospital devices.

However, steel bearings have limitations including contamination. While steel bearings are tough and capable of withstanding highly corrosive environments, they are susceptible to particulate contamination due to the very high contact pressures against the steel within the bearing while it moves. If left unchecked, this contamination can cause denting and wear. 

Of course, contamination in general is unacceptable in health and safety environments. As robots become more prevalent in medical applications, regulations are getting stricter to prevent contamination.

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Ceramic can replace steel, says SMB Bearings

All of these factors influence the choice of material for bearings in medical environments — but what material can replace steel? The medical equipment sector is increasingly choosing bearings made exclusively of zirconia (ZrO2), or other exotic ceramic compounds. According to the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining, “ceramic bearings made from ZrO₂ are tough, with similar expansion properties to chrome steel and 440 stainless steel, although they are 30% lighter.” 

Indeed, full ceramic precision bearings are harder than steel, with superior corrosion and heat resistance, higher dimensional stability, and lower density. However, ceramic bearings are expensive. This is a big issue for health institutes that operate within tight budgets, so the decision to invest in them must be well-considered. Fortunately, ceramic bearings hold a number of advantages for medical environments.

One is that the bearings don’t react to chemicals. That means they don’t corrode or weaken when subjected to harsh chemicals used for sterilization in hospitals. Ceramics don’t require lubrication that would otherwise draw contaminants like dust, water, or humidity. This also eliminates the need for maintenance processes like relubrication. Ceramic bearings are also water-resistant, so can be washed down regularly.

The need to avoid contamination accompanies other design requirements such as high speeds, low noise, and non-magnetic properties. For instance, because magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners use a strong magnetic field to generate two- or three-dimensional images of any living subject, steel bearings cannot be used due to their magnetic properties.

SMB Bearings says ceramic bearings hold a number of advantages for medical environments. | Source: SMB Bearings

Invest in the right materials for high-value applications

So, is investing in ceramic bearings for medical environments worth it? There are still certain applications where the speed and precision of steel are crucial, like in surgical robots. However, there are other instances where using the wrong components in such medical or laboratory equipment can contaminate study conditions or cause the study to cease altogether.

Instead, the extra investment in ceramic bearings can help ensure that medical robots run with effectiveness and longevity — especially as they are “cast more as companions providing emotional support, rather than seen as tools.”

About the author

Chris Johnson is the managing director at SMB Bearings, a specialist ceramic bearings supplier. Johnson has over 14 years of experience at SMB Bearings. 

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We can only guess what surgery may look like in 50 or 100 years, but one thing will always be true: The patient and surgeon will always be at the center, according to Medtronic. And the same is true for surgeons and the technology they use.

Surgical robotics isn’t about the bits or bytes; it’s about how the tools help best meet each patient’s needs to deliver the best possible outcome. Join Rajit Kamal, the vice president and general manager of Robotic Surgical Technologies at Medtronic, as he goes beyond robots to explore the intersection of people and technology shaping the future of surgery in his closing keynote at the Robotics Summit & Expo. Spoiler: There will be robots and AI—and beyond.

Kamal’s session will be at 3:30 p.m. ET on May 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Registration is now open for the event.

Kamal brings extensive experience to Medtronic

In his current role, Kamal is responsible for end-to-end business of Medtronic’s Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system, which today is in use in urologic, gynecologic, and general surgery procedures in hospitals across every continent. The company‘s RAS system is not yet cleared or approved in the U.S.

Known for his people leadership skills, strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and collaborative style, Kamal said he is passionate about the positive impact that healthcare technology has on people’s lives and the critical role it plays in expanding access to care globally.

Before joining Medtronic, Kamal spent 15 years at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, he was the worldwide president for J&J’s $1 billion Sports Medicine and Shoulder Reconstruction business, providing leadership, from strategy development and portfolio management to commercial execution. Kamal was also member of the DePuy Synthes leadership team.

Kamal started his career with Procter & Gamble in manufacturing, supply chain, and demand planning. He was later a vice president leading J&J’s $1.5 billion orthopedic business, which included digital surgery, trauma, spine, joint reconstruction, and sports medicine with a focus on China, Japan, and Australia.

Before that, Kamal was vice president and global franchise leader for a $1.5 billion knee-reconstruction business at J&J. He was responsible for global sales, profit and loss, global strategy, portfolio, and new product development.

Kamal worked earlier in his career as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and Innosight, a customer insights and innovation consulting firm. He specialized in healthcare and advised senior management of Fortune 500 companies on go-to-market strategies, cost benchmarking, product and business model innovation, and organizational restructuring.

Kamal holds a B.S in chemical engineering with distinction from the Indian Institute of Technology, an M.S. in chemical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. in technology management from Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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About the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo

This will be the largest Robotics Summit ever. It will include more than 200 exhibitors, various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a career fair, an engineering theater, a startup showcase, and more!

New to the event is the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Gala. The event will include a cocktail hour, dinner, and the chance to hear from the Robot of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Application of the Year winners. Each RBR50 winner will receive two complimentary tickets to the Robotics Summit and RBR50 gala. A limited number of tickets is available to attendees, but they’re selling fast!

The Robotics Summit & Expo will be co-located with DeviceTalks, an event focused on medical devices, and the inaugural Digital Transformation Forum.

The post Medtronic to explore the future of robotic surgery at Robotics Summit appeared first on The Robot Report.

Editor’s Note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report’s sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing.

The veil is starting to lift on medical robotics startup Mendaera Inc. as it exits stealth mode and heads toward regulatory submission with a design freeze on its first system and verification and validation imminent.

Two former Auris Health leaders co-founded the San Mateo, Calif.-based company. Mendaera also has financial support from Dr. Fred Moll, the Auris and Intuitive Surgical co-founder who is known as “the father of robotic surgery.”

“Among the innovators in the field, Mendaera’s efforts to make robotics commonplace earlier in the healthcare continuum are unique and can potentially change the future of care delivery,” stated Moll in a release.

But Mendaera isn’t a surgical robotics developer. Instead, it said it is working on technology that combines robotics, artificial intelligence, and real-time imaging in a compact device “no bigger than your fist” for procedures including percutaneous instruments.

Mendaera co-founder and CEO Josh DeFonzo. | Source: Mendaera

Josh DeFonzo, co-founder and CEO of Mendaera, offered new details about his startup’s technology and goals in an exclusive interview, as he announced the acquisition of operating room telepresence technology that Avail Medsystems developed.

Avail, which shut down last year, was founded by former Intuitive Surgical and Shockwave Medical leader Daniel Hawkins, who’s now CEO at MRI automation software startup Vista.ai. 

“We’re a very different form factor of robot that focuses on what I’ll describe as gateway procedures,” DeFonzo said. “It’s a different category of robots that we don’t believe the market has seen before [as] we’re designing and developing it.”

Those procedures include vascular access for delivery of devices or therapeutic agents; access to organs for surgical or diagnostics purposes; and pain management procedures such as regional anesthesia, neuraxial blocks, and chronic pain management. DeFonzo declined to go into much detail about specific procedures because the product is still in the development stage.

“The procedures that we are going after are those procedures that involve essentially a needle or a needle-like device and real-time imaging, and as such, there are specific procedures that we think the technology will perform very well at,” he said. “However, the technology is also designed to be able to address any suite of procedures that use those two common denominators: real-time imaging and a percutaneous instrument.”

“And the reason that’s an important point to make is that oftentimes, when you are a specialist who performs these procedures, you don’t perform just one,” added DeFonzo. “You perform a number of procedures: central venous catheters [CVCs], peripherally inserted central catheter [PICC] lines, regional anesthetic blocks that are in the interscalene area or axial blocks. The technology is really designed to enable specialists — of whom there are many — the ability to perform these procedures more consistently with a dramatically lower learning curve.”

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Mendaera marks progress to date

Preclinical testing has shown the technology has improved accuracy and efficiency in comparison with freehand techniques, regardless of the individual’s skill level, asserted DeFonzo. User research spanned around 1,000 different healthcare providers ranging from emergency medicine and interventional radiology to licensed medical doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants.

“It seems to be very stable across user types,” he said. “So whether somebody is a novice, of intermediate skill level, or advanced, the robot is a great leveler in terms of being able to provide consistent outcomes.”

“Whereas when you look at the same techniques performed freehand, the data generally tracks with what you would expect: lesser skilled people are less accurate; more experienced people are more accurate,” DeFonzo noted. “But even in that most skilled category, we do find that the robot makes a fairly remarkable improvement on accuracy and timeliness of intervention.”

Last year, the startup expanded into a production facility to accommodate growth and volume manufacturing for the product’s launch and said its system will be powered by handheld ultrasound developer Butterfly Network’s Ultrasound-on-Chip technology.

Butterfly Network won FDA clearance in 2017 for the Butterfly iQ for iPhone. | Source: Butterfly Network

Mendaera’s aim is to eventually deploy these systems “to the absolute edge of healthcare,” starting with hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and other procedural settings, said DeFonzo. The company will then push to alternative care sites and primary care clinics as evidence builds to support the technology.

“The entire mission for the company is to ensure essentially that high-quality intervention is afforded to every patient at every care center at every encounter,” he said. “We want to be able to push that as far to the edge of healthcare as possible, and that’s certainly something we aim to do over time, but it’s not our starting point explicitly.”

“As a practical starting point, however, we do see ourselves working in the operating room, in the interventional radiology suite, and likely in cath labs to facilitate these gateway procedures, the access that is afforded adjacent to a larger intervention,” DeFonzo acknowledged.

Mendaera said it expects to submit its system to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for review through the 510(k) pathway by the end of 2024 with the goal of offering the product clinically in 2025.

“What we really want to do with this technology is make sure that we’re leveraging not just technological trends, but really important forces in the space — robotics, imaging and AI — to dramatically improve access to care,” said DeFonzo. “Whether you’re talking about something as basic as a vascular access procedure or something as complex as transplant surgery or neurosurgery, we need to leverage technology to improve patient experience.”

“We need to leverage technology to help hospitals become more financially sustainable, ultimately improving the healthcare system as we do it,” he said. “So our vision was to utilize technology to provide solutions that aggregate across many millions, if not tens and hundreds of millions, of procedures to make a ubiquitous technology that really helps benefit our healthcare system.”

Mendaera’s research and development group will work with employees from Avail on how to best add the telepresence technology to the mix.

“We see a lot of power in what the Avail team has built,” DeFonzo said. “Bringing that alongside robotic technology, our imaging partnerships and AI, we think that we’ve got a really good opportunity to digitize to a further extent not only expertise in the form of the robot, but [also] clinical judgment, like how do you ensure that the right clinician and his or her input is present ahead of technologies like artificial intelligence that hopefully augment all users in an even more scalable way.”

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