OTTAVA - Verb/J&J's six-armed new robot

 

Finally, some updates on Verb Surgical's new generation surgical system (illustrations are from an earlier patent):

"The Ottava system will employ Ethicon instrumentation with advanced visualization, machine learning, and a connected ecosystem that will make hospitals and surgeons smarter, reduce variation in surgical outcomes, and improve patient outcomes, McEvoy said.

 "I'm especially excited about the general surgery robotic platform that we're going to introduce, and what's hot off the presses there is we actually have a name for the system. Its name is Ottava, and you're one of the first outsiders to know that," Moll told.

Ottava comes from the musical term octava, which basically means an octave above. The trademark was filed in October 2020.

"We think that name and the meaning behind it sort of reflects what we're trying to accomplish with this robotic platform, really taking robotics to a new level," he said.

J&J's Ottava robotics system incorporates newer robotic technology as well as the integration of data capabilities intended to create an ecosystem best described as digital surgery, Moll explained.

"That tries to describe not only the ability to build a machine that helps clinicians accomplish a procedure, but give information guidance, and sometimes automation to certain parts of a procedure that technology can be smart enough to understand clinically what the clinician is trying to accomplish, and be a smart assistant," Moll said.

That distinguishes the Ottava system from current surgical robotics technology designed to have a surgeon sitting at a console.

"The idea of an ecosystem that includes connectivity, and data, and AI, and all those things everybody loves to talk about is really the ability to go beyond the hardware and use software and the data [gained] from procedures in order to not only make it easier for the clinician, but to attempt to give the clinician the ability to improve and have as good an outcome as possible with his or her level of experience, level of technical capability."

In July, J&J decided to delay filing for 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its then-unnamed general surgery robot. The company had announced during its quarterly earnings call a goal of starting its first in-human studies with the system in the second half of 2022.

Moll added that J&J is in an “exciting stage of development,” where the platform is “coming to life.” The company is now planning on beginning verification and validation processes for Ottava in 2021, followed by enrollment in clinical trials for the device in 2022."

Source: MD+DI, Massdevice, Auris patent US20200085516A1