I wonder how scarce posts on this board adress technical features of Titans robot and how this will impact potential success. Patents are nice to have, but you ned to have patents on features which really matter: A difference to be a difference has to make a difference.
At the end of a day advantageous USPs will decide, whether a surgeon desires the device. Transenterix shows what happens if USPs are missing: no chance to capture substantial market share; no BO interest.
One major risk in visceral surgery are adhäsions due to mechanical trauma from the instruments. A friend of mine, visceral surgeon by himself, nearly died this year due to a mechanical ileus, following deep anterior colonic resection five years ago. Many years ago I had a project in cooperation with a maior university, trying to prevent bowel adhäsions with Hyaluronic films and liquids. We were not successful; the problem still remains up to now and even gets worse the more mechanic is brought into the body during surgery.
I got attention of the SPORT snake arms 4 years ago, and immediately thought this could be a solution for the risks caused by trauma from rigid instruments. In my mental cinema I saw the snake arms elegantly gliding over the bowels and reaching out to every abdominal quadrant with only one incision. So I decided to invest. Consequently I was not surprised when Titan anounced that they planned to start with endometriosis where you have to look into even the most hidden corners of the abdomen.
Last year a contact to the IHU in Strasbourg destroyed my mental cinema, due to unpublished experience with the first generation of Sport. The snake arms in total rotated when the head changed direction and this required very much getting used to maneuvers. One can imagine this effect as half of a stable ring is tilt from one side to the other, a kind of "looping" which make movements in narrow cavities difficult. Snakes can turn off this looping due to nervous contral of each body segment. Frankly speaking the contact told me as long as this would not be solved he would not buy.
In the video on the Titan homepage shown during the AGM there are some short moments showing the arms at the trial board in rotating maneuvers. One may get the impression that the looping is over or at least less pronounced; but the film is immediately cut every time this could be verified. If Titan has solved this problem it would be a very important step forward. If not it would be an explanation for no new timeline up to now.
Concerning the MDT event today I do not expect comments supporting the pps of TMDI. It would be contrary to MDTs interest to buy in as cheap as possible.
Thanks Facetrain
AI
