Arcadia Surgical has unveiled the second generation of its minimally invasive surgical platform, adding force-feedback haptics that let surgeons feel tissue resistance through the console controls for the first time on the system.
Surgeons operating earlier-generation robotic platforms have long cited the loss of tactile feedback as the biggest adjustment when moving from open to robotic-assisted procedures. Arcadia’s engineering team spent four years developing the sensor array embedded in the instrument tips to transmit resistance data back to the surgeon’s hand controls with under 10 milliseconds of latency.
In early cadaver lab testing, surgeons reported being able to distinguish between healthy and fibrotic tissue through feedback alone in the majority of trials, a capability that could reduce inadvertent tissue damage during dissection.
The platform is pending regulatory clearance for general soft tissue indications, with the company targeting broader hospital deployment in the following fiscal year.