The fourth wave of surgery is upon us. Surgery 1.0 was open surgery; Surgery 2.0 was the introduction of minimally invasive techniques; Surgery 3.0 was the advent of the first surgical robots for a few select indications. What about Surgery 4.0?
One-trick ponies won’t cut it anymore
Even if they align with the common narrative associated to medical robots (that they will replace humans on key areas), hands-free and autonomous robotic surgery solutions alone are not a step towards the adoption Value-Based Robotics.
Their technical improvements may prove valuable for certain procedures, techniques or indications. However, this is not a page-turner on medical robotics – democratization is still one step away. This hesitant adoption is likely due to the fact that they continue to be application-specific and are only smarter, more capable replacements for workflow steps that will still require the physician’s control for optimal outcomes.
Surgery 4.0 is bound to be about turning “one-trick ponies” into a robotic surgical platform that ensures equivalent or superior outcomes across different applications and specialties.
Building a robotic surgical platform into the future
Micromate™ is a true robotic platform for image-guided surgery putting its users in charge of a growing number of procedures.
The core system components can be differently combined with our large portfolio of customizable table adapters and tool guides to ensure a seamless integration into the clinical workflow.
Not only that, the physician can also mount the robot to any standard table and guide its preferred surgical instruments. Targeting with live imaging can be done with any Cone-Beam CT, Fluoro CT or Fluoroscope, and an open communication interface is available for immediate integration with third-party navigation or planning systems.
Tomorrow’s robot will be a modular and versatile surgical platform. Micromate™ is tomorrow’s robot, today.
