For many years the vision of robotics & automation is capturing our imagination, especially with its medical & surgical application. These robots have the power not only to transform surgery but also to put the “Care” back in Healthcare. However, the R&D challenges of this revolution are big: how many people would want to go under the knife of a robo-surgeon? In his talk, Yossi will shared from his experience and provided answers to the hard questions in the Medical Robotics domain: How far are we today from that vision? What are the main R&D challenges when trying to bridge over it? What sort of concepts & solutions we can borrow from the traditional robotic industry to the medical field? And what might be less trivial?

1. Medical Robotics
Perception & Reality - The R&D challenge
Yossi Bar / VP R&D at RadiAction Ltd.

2. • 41 yo, married & proud father to 3 daughters
• Spent the last 10 years at Mazor Robotics,
last position as the head of R&D
• Currently VP R&D at Radiaction Medical
• BA & MA from TAU in Philosophy & MBA from IDC in
Finance
A little about me…

3. Mazor Robotics Ltd. - Mazor X

4. Radiaction Medical Ltd.

5. Robotics in the Medical field – The Dream

6. How far are we today to fulfill this
vision?

7. Let’s have a quick overview of
the current medical robotic field

8. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type I
- Remote Manipulation
Da-Vinci by Intuitive Surgical ALF-X by TransEnterix
SRI Robotics Versius by Cambridge
medical

9. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type II
- Assistive Competent Arms
Mazor X
by Mazor Robotics
Mako
by Stryker
Rosa
by Medtech
AutoLap
by MST

10. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type III
- Robotic systems for ablation & radiosurgery
Insightech Cyberknife

11. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type IV
- Automation

12. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type V
Service & Pharmaceutical

13. Types of Medical Robotics out there – Type VI
Futuristic stuff

14. What’s in common ?

15. So, what should we expect as the next phase?
GEN I
Car Signs & alerts –
driver is 100% in
control
GEN II
Signs alerts &
small assistive
maneuvers – driver
is still 99% in
control
GEN III
Autonomous car
GEN I
Robot Signs &
alerts
– Surgeon is 100%
in control
GEN II
Signs alerts &
small assistive
maneuvers –
surgeon is still
99% in control
GEN III
Autonomous robot

16. So, what should we expect as the next phase?
GEN I
Car Signs & alerts –
driver is 100% in
control
GEN II
Signs alerts &
small assistive
maneuvers – driver
is still 99% in
control
GEN III
Autonomous car
GEN I
Robot Signs &
alerts
– Surgeon is 100%
in control
GEN II
Signs alerts &
small assistive
maneuvers –
surgeon is still
99% in control
GEN III
Autonomous robot
Technology maturity
Regulation
User Adoption

17. So, what are the R&D challenges when
coming to develop a surgical robot?

18. MARCULA®Business
1.
Acknowledge that a
medical robot
is firstly medical
& only then a robot

19. Example 1- Built for automation- not for surgery…
A Fully Sensorized Cooperative Robotic
System for Surgical Interventions
Surgical Robot Assistant

20. Example 2- Built for automation- not for surgery…

21. Example 2- Built for automation- not for surgery…

22. MARCULA®Business
2.
Regulation
– What is required
regulatory path that
will enable the first
in-vivo experience?
RASD enable the surgeon to use computer, software,
and robotic technology to control and move surgical
instruments through one or more small incisions in
the patient’s body to perform surgeries. […]. RASD are
not considered to be surgical robots, since the
definition of a robot is an “actuated mechanism
programmable in two or more axes with a degree of
autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform
intended tasks” (1).
Therefore, by definition, there are no surgical robots
on the market that perform minimally invasive
surgical tasks autonomously. Instead, we call the
currently marketed products robotically-assisted
devices, which perform tasks guided by the surgeon’s
control.
fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/UCM454811.p
df

23. MARCULA®Business
2.
Regulation
– What is required
regulatory path that
will enable the first
in-vivo experience?
Choose your
claims wisely !

24. MARCULA®Business
3.
Clinical experience -
Face Reality ASAP
What are the “really must have features”
that the first generation need?
Two normal biases of good R&D Eng.:
1. Subjective :
• “A mediocre product will present me as mediocre
Eng...”
• “No one will remember the time constraint
put on me back then…”
2. Objective :
• “If we won’t do it now
– we’ll never do it later…”“today’s compromises are
tomorrow’s standards…”

25. Evolution is imminent–
Revolution is recognized & appreciated only retrospectively
Successful evolution occurs by:
small, continues, sequential & adaptive steps
Don’t wait for the big leap to occur – Evolve !
(But remember that true evolution occurs in the OR & not in the R&D lab)
(My) Bottom line

26. yossi@radiactionmedical.com
Yossi Bar / VP R&D at RadiAction Ltd.
THANK YOU ALL!