During the visit, they attended a simulation of the Bitrack system for minimally invasive surgery carrying out a nephrectomy with Dr Lluís Peri, urology specialist of Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic.
“It is encouraging to see innovative companies such as Rob Surgical that are international right from the start. We hope to bring this technology to our hospitals in the near future,” said Torra.
Jaume Amat, CEO of Rob Surgical and president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, along with two Rob Surgical senior management figures, Josep Amat and Alícia Casals, explained the project to the president: “We set out to make surgical robotics efficient, democratising precision surgery and putting it within the reach of the majority of hospitals”. “We have achieved efficiency by designing an open robotics platform that can be used to better integrate the robot with the other devices and equipment in a conventional operating theatre”, they added. The Bitrack system architecture will drastically reduce the time needed for robotic surgery.
The Bitrack system presents itself as a modular, flexible and cheaper alternative to the Da Vinci robot from the USA, which currently holds 98% of the international market share. The new robot has been technically validated and it is expected to enter the market in early 2021.
The trial was conducted in the new operating theatre of Specipig, a preclinical CRO specialising in the porcine model, which shares facilities with Rob Surgical.
The company currently has an investment round open to cover the last phase of the project (it has already raised 3 million euros from private investors and one million euros of public funding).
In the media:
Rob Surgical, plataforma abierta a los quirófanos (La Vanguardia)