Good find. Apparently from the listed papers going back quite a few years, haptics are also an acknowledged part of the DLR vision. They look like they are heavily involved in space technology.
The surgery system looks really good, integrated movable table, arms that can be passively pushed out of the way without moving effectors were very impressive. It sounds like their big target is being able to perform beating-heart cardiac surgery. That's not going to happen too soon.
Don't know where this is really at along the path from ambitious concept to a producible market product but overall it makes SPORT look like Surgibot.
However, won't be cheap. Might be overkill for some procedures, like daVinci can be.
The Titan folks would be well advised to know a lot about DLR.
Did I just say, "The Titan folks would be well advised to know a lot about DLR."
Obviously, a system like DLR MicroSurge has a real think-tank, academic, and big bucks high tech organization behind it. Maybe even research grant money and some government funding. Titan has knowledgeable real world but less academically technical surgeon advisory board (that we have no idea of how they contribute), and are content to operate in the dark on a shoestring since they won't raise capital-generating awareness of themselves as an investment.
Of course, maybe JnJ/Google is their white knight. Sure hope we find out soon. The sooner SPORT can hit the market and make some real splash and money the better.
