TransEnterix wants to use more AI in surgical robotics: Here’s how

TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC) has filed a 510(k) submission to add an artificial intelligence feature to its robot-assisted surgery system in which the system can automatically move the camera for a surgeon.

Surgeons have been able to move the camera on TransEnterix’s Senhance System via eye sensing. But the new Intelligent Surgical Unit would allow a surgeon, for example, to tag a specific instrument and instruct the system to have the camera follow the instrument wherever it goes, CEO Anthony Fernando recently explained to MassDevice.

“It’s a convenience, and also it’s a safety feature — because one of the big things in surgery is that you don’t want your instrument to leave the surgical view,” Fernando said.

Fernando described the camera feature as merely a first step toward what TransEnterix eventually wants to accomplish with augmented intelligence and machine vision.