by John Otrompke
MR’s editorial advisor, Prof. Hsiao-Wei Tang, PhD, was honored to appear and speak at a conference along with the president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-Jeou.
The Invest in Taiwan forum is an event focusing on minimally-invasive surgery technology, said Tang, who is also the director of the International Center of Excellence in Medical Robot at the Asian Institute of Telesurgery, http://aits.tw/ , in Taiwan.
Tang is hopeful for progress with his developmental robotic device, the Hua Tuo robot, which will be publicly demonstrated on phantoms in Taipei, Taiwan, this month.
The prior incarnation of the robot, the Vesalius, was developed with funding from the University of Leuven, Belgium, which stopped development last year. Taiwanese surgeon Dr. Min-Ho Huang, who has funded hospitals and research centers, convinced Tang to move the project to Taipei, and now he and colleagues have developed a second iteration, the Hua Tuo Robot.
“The IP belongs to the University of Leuven. Now they are preparing to sign the the memorandum of understanding with me. Although they own the IP, I have all the know-how in my brain,” Tang explained.
The new version, which was developed at a cost of about $50,000 US, is more compact, and its position is more adjustable, according to Tang. The prior version weighed about eleven kilograms. Tang also said be hopes one advantage of a Taiwanese-made device would be its affordability- less than $12,000, Tang speculated.
Following the demonstration of the device as a camera holder in the robotic surgery context, at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall on November 20, Tang will depart for another research engagement at Stanford University, he said.