Robot-assisted surgery (RAS) has opened numerous doors to improved patient outcomes in the 25 years since the debut of Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci in 1998. With a robot’s ability to work with precision in small spaces, patients see better outcomes and faster recovery times with fewer complications. This breakthrough has created a surge, with hundreds of companies looking to revolutionize procedures across numerous specialties. The number of players in this space, however, does not stem from a low barrier to entry. The obstacles faced by would-be innovators are many.
The criticality of safety in these devices is self-evident. And the complexity of the underlying systems will surprise no company experienced in medical device software development. The challenges in any RAS development project are driven by the need for robust verification, coordination of multi-discipline development teams, and the sheer scale of budget, personnel, and schedule when working on complex distributed systems. Teams working on these projects require deep knowledge in niche domains. And between the need for remote proctoring and the opportunities presented by AI, cybersecurity and network performance are high priorities as well.