1. Introduction to the Project

1.1 Introduction to technical achievements

Surgical robots assist surgeons in achieving precise control of surgical instruments in the field of minimally invasive surgery. They are a new type of medical device product that integrates multiple disciplines such as medicine, mechanics, biomechanics, and computer science. With the development of minimally invasive surgery and related underlying technologies, they can provide support for doctors in performing surgical operations from the perspectives of vision, hearing, and touch.

The project focuses on the use of a single master-slave operation mode in domestic and foreign minimally invasive thoracic surgery robot systems, and develops an intelligent thoracic and abdominal minimally invasive surgery robot system with multi-scenario human-machine collaboration. 54 invention patents have been applied for, of which 28 invention patents, including a handheld flexible multi-joint surgical instrument for minimally invasive abdominal surgery, a flexible multi joint surgical instrument for robot assisted minimally invasive surgery have been authorized, and 9 software copyrights have been applied for.

1.2 Technical analysis and advantages

1.2.1 Core technical analysis

The project is planned to develop an intelligent minimally invasive surgical robot system for chest and abdominal cavity with multi-scenario human-machine collaboration, allowing doctors to choose robot working modes that match the surgical characteristics of patients such as doctor-single mechanical arm, doctor-double mechanical arms, doctor-triple mechanical arms, and other multi-scenario human-machine collaboration modes, effectively solving the problems of long robot setup time, complex robot operation, and no significant improvement in surgical time caused by the inability of surgical robots on the market to consider personalized surgical features and only adopt a single master-slave operation mode.

1.2.2 Technological innovation and advantages

At present, domestic and foreign minimally invasive surgical robots (Senhance from the United States, Versius from the United Kingdom, as well as Weigao MICROHANDS, MircoPort, and Kangduo from China) mainly imitate the American daVinci robot, and the robot’s working mode does not meet the actual surgical needs. Based on the development of two generations of minimally invasive surgical robot prototypes, this project has been validated through robot surgical operation experiments conducted by doctors. Doctors generally provide feedback that a surgical robot with both universality and specialization in multi-scenario human-machine cooperation is more suitable for surgical needs. In the early stage of the project, through technological breakthroughs, the key technologies required for the entire chain of robot research and development with independent intellectual property rights have been established, which can support the smooth implementation of this project.

1.3 Main products and applications of technical achievements

The main product of the project’s technical achievements is an intelligent thoracoabdominal minimally invasive surgical robot with multi-scenario human-machine collaboration, which is applied to minimally invasive surgeries in relevant departments such as urology, gynecology, thoracic surgery, and general surgery.

1.4 Stage of technological achievements

At present, this project is in the small trial stage.

1.5 Technical team

The Medical Robotics Research Group of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jilin University, has conducted in-depth research on robot system design and intelligent control for many years. It has developed a third-generation minimally invasive surgical robot system for chest and abdominal cavities and completed the construction of a virtual surgical system. It has also developed a fracture repositioning surgical robot system, a series of surgical instruments, rehabilitation equipment, six dimensional force/torque sensors, and a joint replacement navigation device, and conducted research on robot motion control planning, master-slave operating systems, autonomous surgery, and multi arm collaboration. The head of the research group is an associate professor, doctoral supervisor, and outstanding young talent in Jilin Province. He has served as a member of the Robotics Branch of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineering, a member of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society, a member of the Management Branch of the Chinese Medical Equipment Association, and an expert in rehabilitation assistive devices in Baishan City. He is also a member of the International Biomimetic Engineering Society. He has been selected as a “High-end Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent in Jilin Province” and has served as a reviewer for multiple international journals. As the person in charge, he has presided over more than 20 provincial and ministerial level projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Central Military Commission Innovation Special Zone, and Jilin Province Key Research and Development. He has published more than 20 papers in well-known journals in the field of robotics and applied for more than 70 national patents, including 28 authorized national invention patents and completed 8 patent conversions.

2. Market Potential Analysis

Robot surgery is known as the third generation surgical revolution, and it is the crown jewel of clinical medical diagnosis and treatment tools. In the past, due to weak technological innovation capabilities, loose integration of industry, academia, research and application, and incomplete innovation and industrial chains, China’s high-end surgical robot diagnostic and treatment equipment had the weak technological competitiveness, mainly relying on imports, and core technologies and products were mainly controlled by foreigners.

At present, both domestic and foreign minimally invasive surgical robot systems for chest and abdominal cavity use a single master-slave operation mode. This robot operation mode completely separates doctors from the operating table, and doctors cannot retain their hand operation experience, which is not suitable for actual surgical needs; in addition, this robot working mode also has technical shortcomings such as complex operation, long learning curve for doctors, and long preparation time for robot preoperative settings. Compared to a single master-slave operation mode, doctors need a surgical robot system with multi scene human-machine cooperation mode.

Endoscopic surgical robots can improve surgical accuracy and safety, and their emergence has significantly changed the pattern of minimally invasive surgery. While maintaining the benefits of standard laparoscopic surgery, laparoscopic surgical robots can provide greater flexibility, a larger range of motion, filtering tremors, three-dimensional high-definition vision, and more precise control capabilities. These advantages are of great value in situations where the surgical site is narrow and requires the incision of small tissues. Therefore, robot assisted laparoscopic surgery enables surgeons to repeat originally complex open surgeries using minimally invasive methods. It can also eliminate the “chopstick effect” in traditional laparoscopic surgery, allowing doctors to intuitively operate instruments and shorten their learning curve.

From 2017 to 2021, the market size of laparoscopic surgical robots in China increased from 700 million yuan to 3.24 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 46.7%. Among them, the compound annual growth rate of equipment was 75.6%, consumables was 31.6%, and services were 39.5%. It is expected that the market size of laparoscopic surgical robots in China will continue to grow in the future. It is expected that the market size of laparoscopic surgical robots in China will have reached 11.36 billion yuan by 2025, and 35.25 billion yuan by 2030.

The minimally invasive surgical robot for chest and abdominal cavity belongs to the medical device product category, and its sub field belongs to the medical robot industry. Its service target customers and users are hospitals. Medical robots belong to a high-end technology industry that is interdisciplinary, has high knowledge density, and a dense capital chain. They have high industry barriers, large market capacity, and new product technologies. Their development potential and market prospects are very broad.

3. Financing Needs and Stage Goals

The project financing requirement is 100 million yuan for product prototype testing.

4. Analysis of Technical Achievements and Benefits

4.1 Economic benefits

The market value of the technical achievements of the project is nearly 10 billion yuan.

4.2 Social benefits

After the commercialization of the technical achievements of the project, it can effectively solve the problems of long robot setup time, complex robot operation, and no significant improvement in surgical time caused by the inability of surgical robots on the market to consider personalized surgical characteristics and only adopt a single master-slave operation mode.

It is more conducive to the doctor’s refined operation, with small incisions, less or even no bleeding, fast postoperative recovery, shortened hospital stay, and greatly improved postoperative survival and recovery rates. At the same time, it has broken the global monopoly of foreign surgical robot technology, opened up a path for independent innovation of domestically produced surgical robots in China, effectively reducing surgical costs, and is a concrete manifestation of the “Healthy China” strategy and “Made in China 2025”.

5. Contact Method

Contact person: Xu Wan 

Tel: 13756652164