Our goal is to bring innovation to Robot-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery, by developing the next generation of surgical robotic system that will give surgeons the full integration of data and perceptual stimuli during an intervention.
By achieving this goal, we will significantly increase patient safety and comfort, and we will give surgeons greater confidence in all phases of a procedure. We want to be both surgeons' and patients' best friend!

BOARD MEMBERS Ivan Veronese, Chairman Guido Monticello, Managing Director Paolo Fiorini, Director

OPERATING TEAM Massimo Morselli Guido Monticello

Surgica Robotica, founded in 2009 by 4 private investors has been funded by an Italian Venture Capital Fund. The company is currently undergoing a new round of funding. Both Financial and Industrial Investors are considered as possible partners.

Surgica Robotica was founded with a very ambitious goal: combine the most advanced research in Minimally Invasive Surgery with state of the art robotic and teleoperation technologies into a new surgical robot capable of "data-driven surgery".

The technical knowledge to achieve this goal comes from the experience in robotic and teleoperation of one of the founders, Paolo Fiorini, at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the results of many EU-funded projects in surgical robotics awarded to the Altair Robotics Laboratory of University of Verona. These projects include AccuRobAs (Accurate Robotic Assistant), Safros (Patient Safety in Robotic Surgery), I-Sur (Intelligent Surgical Robotics) and EuroSurge (European Surgical Robotics). The outcome of these projects was transferred in 2009 to Surgica Robotica, a new company that could transform the scientific knowledge into a device that could eventually be manufactured. Surgica Robotica has been up to this challenge, and has worked hard to design, build, tune and verify a robotic system capable of high performance, excellent dexterity and proven safety. In 2011, the company ranked 3rd in the prestigious euRobotics Technology Transfer Award, ahead of more seasoned competitors.

Surgica Robotica has built the first fully functional prototype, Surgenius ALPHA, in 4 months. The prototype has been successfully tested both in-vitro and in-vivo. With the knowledge, the data and the analysis of the technical solutions used in ALPHA, Surgica Robotica spent one year and a half to design, build and tune a new system, Surgenius BETA. The new system has been tested in-vitro and in-vivo. Usability and performance evaluation have been carried out with well known surgeons with extensive experience in robotic surgery. Tasks relevant to robot-assisted surgical procedures have been performed on animals by our surgeons, and they have been successfully completed without the need of any technical intervention on the robot. Surgenius BETA is compliant with the applicable EU regulations.

In many surgical fields, traditional, i.e. open, surgery has been replaced by minimally invasive, laparoscopic technique. In laparoscopy, the surgeon can reach the intervention area with just a set of small incision, called ports, in the patient abdomen. The intervention area can be clearly seen by inserting a laparoscopic camera into the patient body through one of the ports. The appropriate laparoscopic instruments can be inserted into the patient body through the other ports, to carry out the surgical procedure without opening the patient body. The obvious advantage of this approach is that this procedure creates less trauma for the patient than open procedures, with reduced hospital stay and complication risk. The disadvantage of laparoscopy is that tools are more difficult to use, and constrained by the small port they pass through. Surgical Robotics is constantly gaining importance and relevance because it brings to minimally invasive procedures the dexterity of the robotic wrist and thus help surgeons perform better interventions. Robots can be very precise by reducing the normal vibration of the human hand, by allowing scaling of the movement for higher precision, by letting the surgeon handle better the instruments and by making the surgeon operate in a comfortable position. The surgeon works at its console away from the patient, without having to bend over the bed, and without twisting the neck to look at the endocamera screen. Robotic instruments are smarter, more dexterous, and more agile than laparoscopic instruments, and offer a better workspace.
Robot-assisted surgery does not take the place of surgeons, but allows quicker and more effective surgical treatments, with faster recovery and better conditions for the patients.