What are the trends in the Surgical Robotics?

​DIGITALLY-ENABLED SURGERY​

A partnership between Johnson & Johnson and Google has led to the combination of Ethicon's knowledge of surgical instrumentation with Verilys access to Google’s machine vision, imaging analysis and data analytics expertise. Together, they very recently accomplished the concept of "Surgery 4.0", which is the consolidation of robotics, visualization, advanced instrumentation, data analytics, and connectivity in a digitally-enabled surgery platform.​

This marriage of technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) presents new frontiers in the different areas of surgery such as more accurate monitoring of patients, streamlined communication between surgeons.

REDUCED ECONOMICAL IMPACT

One of the top concerns of early pioneers of robotics-assisted surgical devices (RASD) such as Da Vinci, revolve around manufacturing and operation costs. Surgibot, TransEnterix's latest development, is an RASD that is advertised to have a significantly smaller economical impact to both healthcare providers and patients.

​Titan Medical is currently developing a single-arm RASD that combines simplicity with already commercialized technology such as traditional laparoscopy for even further reduced costs.

​HAPTICS-ENABLED SURGERY

Another concern of surgeons is the lack of sensation of touch. This increases risk of unnecessary physical tissue trauma on patients. TransEnterix's Surgibot provides surgeons with haptics-enabled simulations for more precise and safer procedures.

REDUCED PHYSICAL IMPACT
Researchers who previously worked for the Pentagon on the development of an octopus-like robot, recently started diverting their efforts towards surgical technologies. They are currently developing a soft, 2-inch, tentacle-like, RASD that is capable of gripping and performing surgical operations on tissue and internal organs. What sets this technology apart from current existing RASD is its lower risk for unnecessarily inflicted physical trauma compared to devices made out of harder materials such as metal.

​ROBOT PILLS

​Novartis, a giant Swiss pharmaceutical company, partnered up with Rani Therapeutics, a US biotechnology startup. They are currently developing a new form of RASD technology labelled as "robot pills." The pills contain tiny needle-like robots that inject medicine directly through the stomach or intestinal lining of the patient for greater efficacy. The robots, built using nothing but sugar, simply dissolve in the digestive system upon complete delivery of the medicine.

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