Robodoc was the first robot to operate directly on a human being.
And it is still the ONLY such robot (other medical robots follow a surgeon’s motions but do not act autonomously, as Robodoc does).
Southport Partners was retained by IBM to create a corporate venture out of Robodoc research conducted in IBM Research labs.
Robodoc is now operating in countries around the world, and has operated on more than 28,000 humans.
The Smithsonian Selects Robodoc
After researching medical robots, the museum selected Robodoc as the first one to be inducted because, as the Director said, “Robodoc was selcted first because it WAS first”.
Southport Partners organized the technology into a company (“Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc.”) and raised three rounds of capital for the company.
Robodoc was acquired and now is part of Think Surgical.
