Recently I posted a few blog posts on endolumenal robotics.
And here
With very recent news I’m now going to double down on this for an exciting next few years..
And that is because of a few news items that hit the wires over the past few days.
I know a lot of people still see this as "fringe" and all eyes are on the multiarm robots. But...
News on Fortimedix and endolumenal robotics
Firstly I see the most important validation that a major company is making overtures directly into this space. It was announced last week that Medtronic were acquiring Fortimedix BV - and honestly that is very very big news.
Fortimedix is a specialist in laser cut tubes. I worked with them on stents many years ago when that was a booming business. But in parallel they were working on some vey interesting tube tech - where they could apply segmented tubes to instruments.
By running external cabling and select cutting the tube junctions they can control pitch and yaw of the tube. So what?
Well if you look at the tube tech for the da Vinci SP by Intuitive you can see this type of “flexible” wristed instruments in use.
You can also see from the Fortimedix website the various uses they envision for their tube technology.
This includes a variety of laparoscopic - trans orifice - and endolumenal applications.
