Although the manufacturing and retail market sectors recognized the value robotic technology contributes to their respective production processes as early as the 1970s, the healthcare provider segment really didn't acknowledge the science-fiction-becomes-fact concept until the last decade of the 20th Century.
That's when hospitals and other healthcare facilities first learned of--and finally saw--functional robotic arms assisting in minimally invasive surgical procedures. Two companies spearheaded that revolutionary development --Computer Motion Inc. and Intuitive Surgical Inc.--only to ensnarl themselves in patent infringement litigation, resulting in a merger that left Intuitive Surgical as the surviving company.
Computer Motion founder and CEO Yulun Wang, Ph.D., a world renowned authority on healthcare robotics, subsequently embarked on a new venture. This time around the robot serves as a roving communications tool, theoretically boosting a doctor's productivity and bolstering his or her relationships with patients, which should improve quality.
Wang's new company, InTouch Health Inc., created and developed the RP-6, which stands for "remote presence," to assist doctors (and not replace them or nurses as critics and doomsayers have assailed) in delivering care.
Healthcare Purchasing News Senior Editor Rick Dana Barlow spoke with Wang in late August about his companies' past, present and future, and how such technological developments fit into the framework of healthcare delivery in years to come.
HPN: Computer Motion Inc. merged with Intuitive Surgical a few years back after waging some patent battles during the late 1990s, effectively combining the world's two leading operative surgical robotics technology manufacturers. Meanwhile, Integrated Surgical Systems, which also played a role in surgical robotics, shut down this year. In your opinion, what do these two seemingly seminal events say about the future of surgical robotics? Why?
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