Category Archives: Uncategorized

Medtronic has just announced a $700 million investment in Cornerstone Robotics, gaining rights to distribute its Sentire™ surgical system in selected markets outside the US. The official message is clear: Sentire is a “strong complement” to Hugo™, not a replacement. Fair enough. But, if Hugo was the complete answer, why does Medtronic need Sentire? HugoContinue reading “Medtronic’s $700 Million bet on Sentire: a reality check for Hugo?”

A recent demonstration by a Chinese robotic-surgery manufacturer (Edge Medical) in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Health has once again put remote telesurgery in the spotlight. Remote telesurgery is certainly impressive. But as a demonstration of what is technically possible, we already know it can be done (since year 2001…). In every place whereContinue reading “Remote surgery: what’s the benefit?”

We are currently witnessing an avalanche of new robotic platforms for soft-tissue surgery. But until recently, robotic surgery was very different. For almost two decades, da Vinci had the market largely to itself. Or almost. In 2017, South Korea’s Meerecompany launched Revo-i, a robotic surgical system that was strikingly similar to the da Vinci Si,Continue reading “Revo-i: the korean robot that challenged da Vinci almost a decade ago”

Over the last few months, I have been adding more and more soft-tissue robotic surgery systems to headneckroboticsurgery.com. There are now 23 robot profiles on the website (see bellow), and the list keeps growing. Robotics is easy to market. Futuristic designs, spectacular videos and AI-generated images (often with limited fidelity to the real technology) canContinue reading “Less marketing. More clinical value.”

I have just come across the Sentire® Surgical System, developed by Cornerstone Robotics, a surgical robotics company based in Hong Kong. Looking at the system, its overall architecture and configuration, it intensely reminds me of the da Vinci® X. It looks remarkably familiar to anyone who has spent time with this Intuitive’s fourth-generation platform builtContinue reading “Sentire® Surgical System: have we seen this before?”

Robotic surgery is going on. J Granell. Aug 23, 2026

Many thanks to Jason Fleming and the entire Liverpool Head & Neck Centre team for sharing this important work on the safety and efficacy of TORS using the Versius Surgical System. This prospective Phase II clinical trial, conducted at the Liverpool Head & Neck Centre, included 60 TORS procedures for both malignant and benign indications.Continue reading “Versius for TORS: from feasibility to clinical evidence”

The robotic microsurgery field is moving fast. But the clinical reality is still remarkably simple. In Europe and the US, the two dedicated systems currently clinically available are Symani (MMI) and MUSA-3 (Microsure). Other platforms are emerging. KAI in China is already entering clinical development through the NMPA innovative-device pathway, while Sony remains at theContinue reading “Update in Robotic Microsurgery”

Sony Microsurgery Assistance Robot is designed for supermicrosurgery, combining fingertip control, motion scaling, 4K 3D visualization and, particularly interestingly, automatic instrument exchange. Sony has demonstrated microvascular anastomosis on vessels of approximately 0.6 mm in diameter. The technology is still a prototype, not a commercially available surgical system. J Granell. Aug 9, 2026

What is genuinely different about DEXTER® from Distalmotion is not its size, neither its robotic instruments; not even the ability to combine robotic and laparoscopic surgery. The real novelty is the sterile surgeon console. The surgeon remains scrubbed, at the operating table, and can move almost seamlessly between conventional laparoscopy and robotic surgery. It takesContinue reading “DEXTER®: how close is close enough?”