Do you think Dr. Patel would have signed on to the SAB without seeing the hardware and maybe a video or two? And why would the preeminent robotic surgeon on the planet sign on to work with something which "looks like crap" per your post?
I'm certainly in agreement with a few of your points as being as close to factual as we can determine:
Still need a LOT of cash to reach the finish line.
Still at least 2 years away from regulatory approval.
On the other hand, VC/Partners/Chinese all uninterested cannot be determined by the facts we do have at this point in time. We don't know who Mr. McNally is working with behind the scenes. We don't know what his plans are for financing this thing to completion; we can reasonably surmise that the current offering was required because they wouldn't have another infusion of cash until the current warchest was depleted. Most organizations won't hand over tens of millions of dollars overnight; they need to do their due diligence and get internal sign-offs, determine payment methods and timing, most likely a series of payments based on lower-level milestones, contract approvals, etc.
I don't think McNally signed up to fail. And I don't think Dr. Patel operates with a life jacket because he thinks he's on a sinking ship. If these guys didn't both believe they are on a path to success, they wouldn't be there. And they both are privy to the behind-the-scenes info (facts and real data) which we do not have access to. The $5.6M raise probably gets us to the end of Q2, give or take. If we don't have something tangible by then, I will start to worry.
