Are domestic medical robots entering a stage of rapid growth?

On February 17, at the Robotic Remote Surgery Center of the Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated to the School of Medicine of Zhejiang University , a doctor issued a surgical instruction to the robotic arm in the operating room of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Alaer Hospital thousands of miles away through the domestically -developed minimally invasive surgical robot console , successfully performing a cholecystectomy on a local patient . The surgical robot operated on site is the first four-arm laparoscopic robot in China to use 5G technology to achieve ultra-remote surgery. Its core software and hardware have broken through technical barriers and are all self-developed and self-produced.

Backed by new technology, "robot" doctors are smarter

Medical robots As a key application field of the robot industry , at least 100 medical robot startups emerged in China between 2014 and 2017, and more than 50 companies disclosed their financing publicly. In recent years, many listed companies have also expanded their medical robot businesses, and some industrial robot companies or medical device companies have also launched medical robot businesses.

Tianzhihang , the first company in China to obtain a medical robot registration license , launched the "Tianji II" orthopedic surgical robot on April 2, 2021. It can identify changes in patient position in real time during surgery, and adjust the positioning of the robotic arm under the monitoring of the optical tracking system to reduce the impact of slight displacements such as patient breathing on the nails, ensuring precise and minimally invasive surgery.

On January 27, 2022, the Toumai laparoscopic surgical robot independently developed by Minimally Portable Medical Robotics obtained marketing approval from the National Medical Products Administration, becoming the only four-arm laparoscopic surgical robot developed by a Chinese company and approved for marketing.

Although China started late in the field of medical robots, affected by factors such as low penetration rate, long R&D cycle, and low domestic market share, it has developed rapidly recently. With the extensive and profound integration of medical robots with more disciplines , and the application of new technologies such as 5G, big data, smart sensors , rapid gene sequencing, molecular diagnosis, micro-nano manufacturing, flexible and stretchable electronic devices, wearable devices, artificial intelligence, and absorbable biomaterials , medical robots are becoming smarter and more understanding of what doctors want them to do, and even becoming a "robot" doctor in a certain professional field .

Opportunities and challenges coexist, you can take advantage of the favorable wind but not lie down

The rapid development of medical robots is inseparable from the policy support of the country. In the "13th Five-Year Plan" and subsequent guiding documents such as "Made in China 2025", the State Council proposed to focus on the development of high-performance diagnostic and treatment equipment such as medical robots, and actively encourage the innovation of domestic medical devices . The " Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline clearly proposes to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of medical devices, increase the localization rate of medical devices, and focus on the localization of medical devices . The "Notice on the Implementation Plan for the " Robot+" Application Action" also proposed to accelerate the breakthrough of robots and medical artificial intelligence in basic theory, common key technologies, and innovative applications, and promote the accelerated application of new technologies and new products such as artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis systems, robot 5G remote surgery, and brain-computer interface-assisted rehabilitation systems. The introduction of a series of policies at the national level has undoubtedly provided a favorable wind for the development of domestic medical robots .

In the wave of the outbreak of medical robots , the development of an industry is by no means only supported by national policies . While facing historic opportunities , China's medical robot industry is also facing various challenges. Problems such as weak underlying core technology, lagging research and development of key components, lack of compound talents, low brand awareness, and immature clinical application environment still need to be solved. At present, many core components of domestic medical robots cannot be replaced by domestic products, which to a certain extent has also caused limited room for cost reduction of domestic medical robots, and there is also the problem of "stuck neck" in supply.

At the same time, the development of the medical robot industry is also inseparable from the support of capital, but a large amount of capital still lacks objective understanding of the field of medical robots. It is easy to rush in when capital is overheated, and to be overly cautious during the capital winter. Ultimately, there is a lack of sufficient understanding of the development laws and internal logic of the medical robot industry.

But in general, intelligent medical robots will bring about a new medical technology revolution in the future, and more companies will join the medical robot industrialization team . The pace of medical robot industrialization will continue to accelerate , and will gradually change from following to running side by side, and may even lead in the future. In addition, with the huge gap in high-quality medical services and a favorable development environment, domestic medical robots will become a strong competitor in the international medical robot market .