Rob Surgical moving ahead with Bitrack

"The Rob Surgical firm showed off its robot on last Wednesday, the result of seven years of development that is now in its final stages, with 'Bitrack' due to go on the market in 2021."

"Rob Surgical was created by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) to respond to the minimally invasive robotic surgery (MIRS) challenges of the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. and the European Robotic Surgery Project (EuRoSurge) funded by the European Commission in the FP7.

Main milestones

• 2008-2011: Research phase with UPC, IBEC and Mayo Clinic experts.
• 2012: Rob Surgical spin-off is created in Barcelona with the aim of achieving this leading research in hospitals and patients.
• 2012-2018: Our engineering team develops the functional prototype of the Bitrack system.
• 2014: We perform the first surgery with animal models.
• 2015: We obtain a grant to perform usability trials and validations test in collaboration with surgeons from the University of Barcelona hospitals ( Hospital Clínic and Vall d'Hebron Hospital).
• 2018: Bitrack has successfully completed its technical validation and is ready to enter the market. More than 20 media outlets talk about this milestone. We also receive a visit from the president of the Catalan government.

Main challenges

• 2019-2021: We will start the regulatory phase to obtain CE and FDA certifications.
• 2022-2023: Everything ready to market the new Bitrack worldwide."

Source: Rob Surgical