EchoNous and Mendaera have teamed up to combine their ultrasound and robotic technologies.
The partnership aims to improve the way doctors perform certain important medical treatments by combining EchoNous’ ultrasound platform, dubbed Kosmos, with Mendaera’s handheld robotic tool. The companies said that these technologies are meant to help more healthcare providers perform procedures safely and accurately, regardless of medical specialty or location.
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EchoNous’ Kosmos platform includes a portable, artificial intelligence (AI)-based ultrasound device. The platform offers 2D imaging enhanced with pulse wave (PW), tissue doppler imaging (TDI), and continuous wave (CW) Doppler capabilities, as per EchoNous’ website.
Silicon Valley-based company Mendaera secured $73m in funding in September to advance its handheld needle-based robot technology into areas of surgery such as biopsies, organ and vascular access, and pain management interventions. The company is developing a new robotic platform that integrates AI, real-time imaging, and virtual connectivity to assist with everyday medical procedures.
Once commercialised, Mendaera will offer the EchoNous Kosmos ultrasound technology as an imaging option available to its robotic customers, as per the 8 October announcement.
Mendaera’s CEO Josh DeFonzo said: “Technology that empowers healthcare systems to improve care as well as the way it is delivered is especially critical for commonplace image-guided interventions across the healthcare system, where the supply and demand crisis is particularly acute. The EchoNous technology is an ideal complement to the Mendaera platform, providing high-quality imaging to our customers as they seek to provide the best care to their patients.”
In a similar move, Mendaera entered into a partnership with Butterfly Network in December 2023. The goal of the agreement was to deliver an interventional robot that incorporates Butterfly’s semiconductor-based ultrasound technology and imaging software to help guide Mendaera’s needle-based procedures in real time.
Last month, medical imaging software and devices company Exo launched SweepAI, an AI-based cardiac and lung scanning ultrasound application. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved device provides instant feedback during organ scans, automatically identifying optimal imaging and offering diagnostic insights in real-time.
According to a report on GlobalData’s Medical Intelligence Center, AI is set to unlock new cases for robotics, an industry that was worth $76bn in 2023. The market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% to $218bn by 2030.
