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I am not as disgruntled with Titan (after all, three past announcements are very good news) as I am perplexed by the nonexistent and even negative reaction of the albeit limited market in this sector. What happens with TITXF pps has matched predictions only one time since I bought in over two years ago. That's when they took the dive on the revised timeline.
This company is so far off the tech/medical market radar it is almost impossible to believe. And, I put the blame for that solely on Bertner, if indeed her firm is still being retained.
I'd like ONE SCRAP of news from Titan about what Bertner has done, ONE SCRAP.
Man, that "advice" from Bertner Advisors, LLC MUST BE REALLY GOOD!
"Founded by Sherry Bertner, Bertner Advisors, LLC is a consulting firm providing experienced and strategic investor relations to health care companies."
ONLY IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, SHERRY BABY!!
Get off your sweet ass and earn your keep.
Appears that the SAIL center is associated with Anne Arundel medical Center, which claims it is:
One of the Best Robotic Surgery Teams In Maryland
Since becoming the first hospital in Maryland to introduce the da Vinci Surgical System in 2006, Anne Arundel Medical Center has led the state in advancing robotic surgery. Our dedicated robotics team includes 18 fellowship-trained surgeons specifically credentialed in robotic surgery - four of whom are also national proctors who have been hand-selected to train surgeons around the country in the latest robotic surgery techniques.
Five Robotic Surgical Specialties and Growing
While many hospitals can only offer a handful of robotic surgery procedures, Anne Arundel Medical Center has robotically trained surgeons in five disciplines, giving you access to a broad range of robotic surgery options in:
•Urology, including full and partial prostate removal and kidney removal
•Urogynecology, including treatments for incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse
•Gynecology, including benign hysterectomies and uterine fibroid removal
•Gynecologic oncology, including radical hysterectomies for uterine and ovarian cancers
•Thoracic (lung), including lobectomies for lung cancer
So, I like the fact that they are already very experienced daVinci users, and train in daVinci there.
Agreed. Thanks for the nice review of the positives.
Well, it says that the agreement is to 'develop classes'. I'm sure that's a timeframe of many months, if not a year. And, a curriculum that will evolve over time.
Still, this news along with the surgical tool manufacturer decision all make sense for a company planning well and moving in the right direction.
The bafflement (as always) is the share price and apparent lack of interest by the market, general or medically-focused. ISRG still has a monopoly on name recognition in surgical robotics.
Not much interest on Transenterix either.
Should be well over $5 right now with these major, positive announcements.
Bertner must be hard at work; what is it exactly that she does?
True that programming negotiates action between the manual interface and the effectors in SPORT and DaVinci. Surgibot is all manual as far as I know.
Nothing autonomous in any of them, however. It's a fine line with the definition these days. The high schools called their robotics clubs "robotics", but all they were doing was remote control, like any RC airplane or car model. Hopefully, it's true robotics now, like a car that controls itself. For me, robotics starts when program logic make decisions and control commands apart from human inputs. Automated dissection or suturing would be an example. We're not there yet.
I agree that Surgibot is not a robot, but SPORT really isn't either. Nor DaVinci.
Entire issue of that Journal was devoted to Surgical Robotics, including some editorial comment and pro/con position essays.
http://www.journalofmas.com/showBackIssue.asp?issn=0972-9941;year=2015;volume=11;issue=1;month=January-March
Article was received by the Journal on Aug 25th, 2014.
Was accepted Aug 28th, 2014.
Three day turn-around for peer-review and acceptance? Not like any journal my research gets submitted to.
I'd say the Editor waived this through.
Good find.
More like a review article. "With the advent of SPORT™ and other such robotic systems under development, the science and art of surgery may be at the cusp of a robotic revolution!"
Using an exclamation point! in a scientific journal. Poor form. These guys must really be excited. I'd follow their names because I suspect they know more about SPORT that we do.
Agreed, any potential new investors have nothing to go on and so are hardly buying. You have to be a serious afficianado of this medical market sector, namely surgical robotics (where there is only one recognized brand name ISRG)to even know or understand of the investment potential.
The most recent news of signing an instrument supplier should have been big for the pps, a huge validation of Titan. In fact, it can't even sustain the price because no one knows about this company except the geeks like us un this board.
They look strong to me from what I've reviewed on their website, but I'm not a surgeon or an OR devices person.
They do have a 5mm clip applier.
My bet is that the SPORT arms are not simple devices. Any effectors will be driven by whatever mechanism they currently utilize for the the basic tools thay have presented so far. Titan needs a top-notch instrument company willing to be betting for the long term that snake-arm effectors are going to be a hit.
Any major modification to the snake-arm mechanism, as it currently stands, the motors and cables that control it, and the manual controller hardware and software are all intertwined.
"Improvements" in SPORT manipulative ability will come with major generational versions of SPORT, not incremental improvements to existing units, in my opinion. That is why they need to get it right the first time it enters the market. This effector supplier (who remains secret) needs to be 1st class.
JMO
Ximedica may do design and prototypes, but when you have to do production in real steel you are going to need tooling that can make the parts, from basic stock to fit, finish, and packaging.
Only an established instrument-making company is going to be ready to bring that on-line without reinventing the wheel.
JMO
Note that Cardica has advertised making the smallest surgical stapler (5mm).
Note the job posting is for robotics related to manufacturing, (probably) not design of products for medical-robotics end-users.
Not to say that the job could not be related to intent to scale-up production, in the case of let's say, new contracts for new products (ie. Titan).
You're right. Even with Ximedica, they can't do it all themselves.
That is why I think SPORT will ultimately succeed or fail soley on the ability to do precision (and efficient) surgery with snake-arm robotic technology. Because of their small size, there are practical limitations that will require constant development. Also in the control system, then with haptics.
IMO they know now, or will soon realize, that they must partner with someone with major robotics credentials, or the deep pockets to pay for creating their own in-house state-of-art R&D.
With Titan's level of information withholding, it seems strange that that they even made the announcement at all. They don't HAVE to, right? I mean, why even bother when they can get away with zero information two sentence milestone announcements.
So, maybe this is their attempt to raise some interest and keep the faithful happy.
I have been to these type conferences at FDA.
Basically, it is an open invitation for them to brainstorm with the "public" about how, when, why, and where they can stifle development, over-regulate, and limit U.S. ingenuity. All under the guise of protecting us from capitalist hegemony. "If everyone can't succeed, no one will, comrade!"
On a brighter note, at least robotic surgery will make it into the mainstream conversation.
Great News!!
Of course, left in the dark about which company. Has anyone ever invested in a company so tight-lipped as Titan?
I appreciate your take on things. My point, and maybe it didn't come across clearly, was that the "surgically-sized" articulated arm technology may have its own limits in terms of what it is capable of doing within constraints of physical size, surgical environment, materials, production cost, maintenance, etc.. We are not in science fiction land like the Martian probes going through the basement in War of the Worlds, yet.
See this link, interesting:
https://birminghamwarstudies.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/an-interview-about-robotic-snake-arms/
This company has done some impressive engineering. Their smallest arm is much, much larger than what is in SPORT.
The SPORT arms and controllers will need to perform well in the real world of doing surgery with small instruments. They will need to be improved upon as weaknesses are identified (and they will be). Haptics will add a whole new level of complexity. The training and skill to use them is anyone's guess, outside of Titan/Ximedica.
So, while you can attest to the perceptions of surgeons, I attest to the perceptions of engineers. If Titan will be a game-changer as we hope, heavy development of the arm technology and its IP will play a big part in any success.
I am long on Titan, but I believe a distinction and qualifier need to be made whenever making a statement like SPORT "technology" will be a game changer.
The SPORT platform is not new in that it is an evolutionary outgrowth of the daVinci "console" platform; the difference being primarily that it uses "snake arm efectors". Those articulating arms and the control system they are moved by (and later hopefully haptically enhanced with) are the difference. Footprint, cost, etc., of SPORT can and will be matched by next generation daVincis, I am sure, if the market demands that.
So the bottom line for me in regards to the success of SPORT will be the technological feasibility of the articulated effectors and their control. They are not simple mechanisms; look at the patents. Effective control does not appear simple either. Robotic wristed joints appear to be far simpler solutions.
We have seen the arms demonstrated in rather simplistic videos, but their durablity, dexterity, ease of control, etc. are far from known to us investors. The continued development of that technology is an issue apart from SPORT's use of them and maybe even beyond that of Titan/Ximedica. Big money is required to advance this technology in lockstep wth surgical need.
Both the articles on SA, for Transenterix and Titan, exhibit serious weaknesses in regard to medical/surgical understanding.
For example, Surgibot was continually referred to as a robotic system; it really is not. It's just an extended set of passively elongated laproscopic handles. Imaging is not even "integrated" in the sense that the surgeon is viewing a separate screen at distance through goggles. This technology was compared with apparent equality to daVinci which at minimum offers serious ergometric and instrument control advantages to the surgeon.
Titan's article ignorantly contrasts SPORT in terms of market-experience time with Mazor. They are two different sytems designed for two different purposes.
I think both articles are pretty lame.
I note that they mentioned a JJ/Google acquisition is not out of the realm of possibility.
Also note that they speak of the ample war chest available to ISRG. I'd like to see Titan trying to add NOW to their reserve of cash which they could use to advantage in this last stage before rollout and trials.
You can see that compared to Boston Dynamics, what we call surgical robots (ie. daVinci, Mazor, Surgibot, SPORT, etc.) are really only enhanced human-manipulation machines. Perhaps the Google-JNJ mashup will be pie-in-the-sky advanced stuff, enabling Titan to keep a couple years start.
When software starts doing autonomous manipulation in the surgical field, SPORT will be a dinosaur. IMO still 10 years in the future. In the meantime Titan should hope that they can find similar deep pockets and creative minds to develop state of the art true robotics systems. They can't do that alone.
Also, another reason why Titan needs the visibility it WON'T MAKE for itself.
This news will bring the investment eye to surgical robotics. Will that eye notice Titan Medical is getting ready to roll?
Bound to happen sooner than expected.
Time to haul ass, Titan.
Man, I don't see how they would be anywhere near having haptic feedback in their 1st generation SPORT.
Just the liabilities alone could make regulatory approval much, much harder for SPORT.
It would be great if they could, but I just don't see what current haptic technology would be suitable for the rather small, articulated snakearms, unless they are sensing cable tension well back in the control head, not the effectors or working snakearms. Have to admit though, I'm not up-to-date on the technology.
Of course, as we all know, Surgibot beat us to it with "Natural Haptic Feedback", trademark registered to LTG. (LOL)
By the way, it's nice having him on ignore.
Given that the meeting serves a professional society of surgeons, and has a highly academic format, I'd say Dutson could easily be discussing tactile feedback that has nothing to do with Titan Medical.
Of course, I hope it is about a Titan development. He would certainly have to issue disclaimer that he is on their SAB.
If the abstracts and/or presentations are available to members on our message board here, they can certainly find out for us whether it is Titan-related technology.
Good link to keep up to date with all surgical robotics:
http://surgrob.blogspot.com/
Also look through older posts.
Worth reading from time to time. There is an explosive technological revolution that will be taking place in surgical robotics in about 5 years (my guess). Titan and ISRG will be one of many competing systems. Titan needs to capitalize on the dead time between now and then.
I hope you are being sarcastic about Bertner.
I've had opportunity in the recent past to suggest Bertner in a few technology/venture capital type meetings at my institution. I decided not to since I personally have nothing to go on regarding any performance for Titan.
Agreed. And the market's reason for showing little excitement is that management presents nothing to develop any excitement.
There should be.
Can anyone name any robotic general surgical platform besides daVinci that may go to market within two years, backed up with good technology, top surgical board, and for god's sake Ximedica.
Sitting at $1.44 is solely due to management.
'Similar to other Canadian companies' is to me the telling phrase.
Sounds like a CYA (Cover Your Ass) bylaw amendment. Neither a positive or negative development for us troops. Probably suggested by their legal advisor, for a consultancy fee of course.
Basically says "you shareholders have less reason to ever fire a lawsuit our way"; we are giving you more notice than most people get.
At least we know someone in management is doing something to earn their pay. Probably Randall.
I'd rather hear or see something pertaining to SPORT.
I'd believe 3 or 4 other bidders out in left field (academic labs probably), but no one ready to deliver within a couple years. 35?
Surgibot was probably in there too.
Reviewer probably just saw a list of potential bidders that included all the big medical company names, even though they never submitted anything official. Maybe a list for "all surgical equipment suppliers". Typical gov'ment idiocy.
Good article but I'm afraid sloppy in the 35 reference mention.
Hey, there's this company called Titan Medical, but no one has ever heard of them. Penny stock on an exchange in Canada. CEO is actually retired. Management meet once a year maybe. Bunch of smart doctors, but never hear about any engineers or robotic scientists.
Thank god for Ximedica.
Your questions are right to the point as far as I'm concerned. Love to know what they are thinking.
History is teaching us that they don't give a rat's ass about pps on any given day, week, month, maybe year. However, as most on this board would agree, a higher pps is needed, will be needed, should be needed to gain capitalization at this MOST CRITICAL stage. Ximedica will work harder when they see more money in the trough too. Build some friggin' interest in the technology, the surgical workplace, hospital administration, etc..
Now is not the time for scrimping about quality in production (or number) of the beta units.
Titan, please get the story out there! You won't have forever to do this. You are freakin' lucky the Surgibot is your only competition at this point - unless ISRG has a game-changer under wraps.
Excellent question.
Given the information we are privy to because of their idiotic no-PR strategy, the answer to your question is "We don't know".
No, it's about what I expected.
It is good news we got breakeven news. Anything less would have been a disaster.
But nothing different than restating the expected milestone "feasibility prototype". A few sentences; no elaboration, no information, no photo, no video. No mention of Ximedica; that would have been nice since everything is riding with them - everything. No mention of Bertner.
I do appreciate Fowler's comments. They contain a little implied substance.
Hargrove is "very pleased"... big deal. Hargrove is probably excited when someone brings in bran muffins to the office where the "team" probably rarely meets under one roof anyway.
Nine more months until the next milestone announcement expected.
That is why the market has this response.
It's not Kool Aid, but not Champagne either.
Not sure what a "feasibility prototype" is? No one on this board knows either, including Knuckle-head. Probably made out of pieces from the scrap bin at this point. There's a long way to go.
So, maybe this is PR of sorts from Titan. God knows, we deserve it.
OK, so we "met" the 1Q15 milestone, "feasibility prototype", good news.
I think the truth behind this statement is that Ximedica has told them "work is going well and looking good". "The idea to add extra indications is doable". That's it.
May get a small run-up in pps. But then, back to waiting.
Just my take on things.
WAAYYYY to early for a J&J to throw anything at this. Your exuberance is transparent. Your pumping is a nostalgic parody. Are you serious?
I'd love to see a 52 week high, but that all depends on who is paying attention. A lot of the (already minimal) market stepped away from Titan after their last announcement signaling long delay. Be nice if Bertner has raised some interest out there from deep pocket types, but that remains to be seen.
Until Titan decides to play the PR game (never), these temporal and local gains will slide back after a while - awaiting the next announcement.
I'll take the good news, however.