Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX March/April 2002

COVER STORY

Not Your Average Greeks

Computer Motion’s family of products includes four distinct systems, each named for a character from ancient Greek history or mythology. Over the years, the company’s product-development strategy has been to create marketable stand-alone elements whose core technologies could later be incorporated into more-sophisticated systems. Progressing in this stepwise way, Computer Motion has gradually managed to obtain FDA clearance for a range of products that promise to make surgical robotics as common as scalpels—and soon. Following is a run-down of the company’s current offerings.

Figure 1. An operating-room theater equipped with the Zeus robotic surgical system by Computer Motion (Goleta, CA).

Aesop Endoscope Positioning System. The first surgical robot to receive clearance from FDA (in October 1994), the Aesop system provides robotic precision and stability for visualization of the internal surgical field. The second-generation system (cleared by FDA in November 1996) incorporates Computer Motion’s proprietary speech-recognition technology, enabling the surgeon to maneuver the endoscope using simple voice commands. The third-generation product (cleared in January 1998) offers freedom of motion along seven axes.

Hermes Control Center. The Hermes Control Center is a centralized system that enables surgeons to use simple voice commands to control a network of smart medical devices in the operating room. More than a dozen device manufacturers produce FDA-cleared equipment compatible with the system, including operating-room lights, a console for controlling powered surgical instruments, an endoscopic camera, endoscopic light source, laparoscopic insufflator, video printer, videocassette recorder, arthroscopic shaver, and arthroscopic pump.

Figure 2. Cleared by FDA in October 2001 as the first product in the new category of robotic telemedicine devices, the Socrates telecollaboration system enables a remote surgeon to mentor a surgeon as if locally.

Zeus Robotic Surgical System. Granted FDA clearance as an assist device in October 2001, the Zeus robotic surgical system consists of three robotic arms and a separate ergonomic workstation (see Figure 1). The system is intended to extend the surgeon’s dexterity and precision in the practice of complex minimally invasive surgery. The company is in the process of submitting several studies to support FDA clearance for applications in thoracic, cardiac, urologic, and general surgery.

Socrates Robotic Telecollaboration System. The Socrates system enables a surgeon located at a remote site to interact with another surgeon located in an operating room anywhere in the world. Through Socrates, the remote surgeon is able to converse with the operative surgeon as well as view video images generated by an overhead camera or endoscope utilized at the operative site (see Figure 2).

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