Hardware Podcasts

Episode 162: The robot doctor will see you now - Robot Talk Live

Robot Talk · 26 Jun 2026 · 50m · Episode 162

What this episode covers

Claire Asher hosts a live episode of Robot Talk at Imperial College London with George Mylonas (Imperial College London), Antonia Tzemanaki (University of Bristol), and Tom Vercauteren (King's College London/Hypervision Surgical). The panel discusses the evolution of surgical robotics from the da Vinci system to soft robotics and AI-driven perceptual interfaces, highlighting research into needle steering, tactile sensing for cancer diagnosis, and computer vision for tissue differentiation. They address the challenges of training AI models with limited annotated medical data, the regulatory hurdles for medical devices, and the ethical implications of autonomy in healthcare.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Intuitive Surgical, Computer Motion, Hypervision Surgical, Hamlyn Centre, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, National Robotarium
Products
da Vinci, Maestro

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 1h 02m

    The Future of Surgery: The long path to market for surgical robots with Adam Sachs from Vicarious

    Adam Sachs, co-founder and CEO of Vicarious Surgical, discusses the company's progress in developing a single-port surgical robot that operates through a 1.8 cm incision, detailing the transition from VR-based Beta 1 to a hybrid interface in Beta 2. He explains the rigorous FDA regulatory path, including electromagnetic compatibility testing against electro-surgery tools and the strategic decision to delay AI features to ensure traceability. The episode also covers Vicarious' public funding status, supply chain challenges, and the potential for remote training applications, alongside industry news on GM's Cruise and Amazon's iRobot acquisition.

    Medical & health devicesSourcing & supply chain
    8 chapters

  • Being an Engineer · 31m

    Axel Krieger | Autonomous Robotics in the Medical Device Field

    Axel Krieger, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the development of the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), which performs autonomous keyhole bowel surgery (anastomosis) with superior consistency to human surgeons. The system uses supervised autonomy, infrared markers, and a custom structured light 3D camera to plan and execute sutures on bowel tissue, demonstrating results in preclinical animal studies. Krieger explains how STAR differs from the teleoperated Da Vinci robot by offering high autonomy for specific tasks, with commercialization handled through licensing to Active Surgical and potential future startups. The conversation covers the technical challenges of tissue deformation, vision systems, and the translational path from academic research to clinical application.

    Robotics & autonomyMedical & health devices
    8 chapters

  • Being an Engineer · 43m

    Joe Bogusky| Surgical Robots, Catheter R&D, & Seahorse Tails

    Joe Bogusky, a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Intuitive Surgical, discusses his 25-year career developing minimally invasive medical devices, ranging from robotic-controlled catheters to the DaVinci surgical robot. He details the unique engineering challenges of catheter design, such as managing conflicting stiffness requirements and testing materials like PTFE in simulated body temperature environments. Bogusky also shares insights on the future of surgical robotics, emphasizing the role of AI for low-risk tasks while maintaining physician control, and advises engineers to build custom calculation tools and study biomimicry for inspiration.

    Materials & manufacturing processesPrototyping & iteration
    7 chapters

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 32m

    65. Pizzaiolo Robot & Autonomous Wheelchairs

    Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss two robotics projects: a pizza-making robot from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and UCSD that uses a teacher-student AI framework to learn dough manipulation, and an autonomous wheelchair study by EPFL that highlights safety risks and the need for assisted navigation in crowds. They analyze the engineering challenges of soft robotics, sensor integration, and the legal implications of human-robot interaction.

    Robotics & autonomyAI & machine learning
    6 chapters

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 1h 05m

    Performance-Guided Surgery: Robots in the operating room

    Dustin Vaughan, VP of R&D for Robotics at Ascensus, discusses the development of the Luna surgical platform and the Senhance system, emphasizing performance-guided surgery and augmented intelligence. He details the integration of AI with Carl Storz, the challenges of regulatory clearance (FDA 510k pathway), and the specific focus on pediatric care with 5mm instruments. The episode also covers Universal Robots' perspective on the new ISO 105018:2025 standards, which shift the focus from 'collaborative robots' to 'collaborative applications' and introduce new safety requirements like 3-position enabling devices.

    Medical & health devicesRobotics & autonomy
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Robot Talk. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.