To simplify medical robotics and improve surgeons’ precision, Blanc Tailleur designs innovative robotsfor surgical assistance. The goal is to accompagny the adoption of robotic solutions in minimally invasive healthcare. Discover how Blanc Tailleur puts its expertise at the service of innovative technologies in the medical field, and shares its medical device design process used by the leading industrial design agencies.

 

A similar approach : Distalmotion’s Dexter, a surgical robot designed by McKinsey Design.

 

The Swiss company Distalmotion, which markets robotic surgical solutions, has entrusted McKinsey to design its robot Dexter, a revolutionary hybrid robotic solution for laparoscopic surgery. McKinsey is a world reference as a strategy consultant. The agency is reputed for their industrial performance projects. It is also a reference in industrial design and lean manufacturing since it was acquired by Lunar.

 

Challenge

A challenge shared by Blanc Tailleur Design R&D

The goal was to design a surgical robot that is usable, simple, affordable and which fulfills the various needs of healthcare professionals :

  • Increase surgeons’ dexterity and precision thanks to its robotic articulated arms.
  • Allowing a quick switch between robotics and laparoscopy, as the surgeon wishes.
  • Offering a simple to use technology for the medical teams, facilitating in particular the transport from one operating room to the other.
  • Making surgical robotics afforable for any budget in medical structures.

This project’s major constraints : complying with the stringent medical standards and meeting the certification deadline, crucial steps to perform the first operations on patients. Achieving european certification (CE) implies anticipating the appointment a year ahead. 

 

Process 

To design this innovative surgical robot, McKinsey followed a 4 step process similar to the process used by Blanc Tailleur.

  • Evaluation and validation with expert surgeons to co-create viable solutions by using a collaborative method based on design thinking facilitating and accelerating decision making. 
    • Essential to conceive a usage design, to create a design that makes sense. It is crucial to think with and for the user so that the user experience is not only innovative but also intuitive and pertinent. It guarantees that the concept resulting from this step meets the market’s demand and stimulate user acceptance.
  • Making models factoring in medical standards.
    • If the Design agency has an integrated fablab, it will noticeably accelerate the prototyping delays and it will also allow testing during the conception phase to identify new solutions.
  • Designing prototypes to obtain certifications, unblock investments and validate production costs.
    • After imagining an attractive and original product design, it is crucial to make sure it is achievable : that is what we call objective cost design. The technical development to make a functional prototype requires technical and normative expertise that allow the client to confirm the design choices for pre-industrialisation. Moreover, we can also test the product’s ergonomy to improve user acceptance by making a full size prototype.
  • Completing the final industrialisation file to assist the client for the product’s mass production.
    • The pre-serie release file is necessary for the CE qualification and allows the first operations on patients. This pre-condition is needed before marketing the device. By anticipating the standards from the design, we guarantee cost price and secure the product’s time to market.

 

Robot chirurgical Dexter par Distalmotion

See in the video how McKinsey Design proceeded for the robot Dexter

 

Blanc Tailleur’s asset : an integrated design office for a 360° approach up to certification.

 

Blanc Tailleur also designs innovative surgical robots, Zimmer Biomet‘s Rosa Brain and Rosa Spines are some of them. They were designed by following a similar process to McKinsey’s. The industrial design agency Blanc Tailleur has a major asset : its integrated design office. It allows them to deliver the pre-serie release file and to anticipate the very stringent standards of medical devices.

 

Rosa Spine de Medtech par Blanc Tailleur Design R&D

 

Thanks to the internal FabLab which creates prototypes and customised model, the client can quickly visualise all the possible solutions. This co-design, in close connection with the surgical team, shows the ergonomic and commercial relevance of industrial design.

 

The necessary control of medical standards

 

« Blanc Tailleur doesn’t endure the standard but integrates it » Ludwig Katchynsky, Product Design Manager at Blanc Tailleur.

 

That’s another asset of Blanc Tailleur : the control of very stringent medical standards (notably CEI 60601 et CEI 62366) which decreases considerably the risk of market delay due to an unobtained certification.

Certifications are obtained right on time to secure the launch date of medical devices. A delay is very often prejudicial to the product. The financial and commercial issues are crucial for the industrialists.

Therefore, in less than 18 months, the final file for the Rosa Brain and Rosa Spine‘s (innovative surgical robots for cranial and spine surgery) certification has been finalised and validated. The result : a placing on the market secured both in time and with the certifications.

To design innovative surgical robots, Blanc Tailleur takes a collaborative approach that is clearly user centered, just like McKinsey. Thanks to the talent and the inventiveness of their team combined with the client’s skills, Blanc Tailleur can design surgical robots that perfectly meet the expectations of the client, healthcare professionals and patients.

 

Rosa Spine - Design par Blanc Tailleur

 

The design methodology of a revolutionary medical robot like the Dexter, or the robotic platform Rosa (declined in diverse applications such as the Rosa Brain, which assists brain operations, the Rosa Spine for the skeleton, or the Rosa Knee System) proves that industrial design is indispensable to design high-performing innovations. It acts like a true guide, noticeably when the stakes are high and the time to market vital.

 

About Zimmer Biomet 

Zimmer Biomet’s innovations have become a benchmark in the musculoskeletal care field.Les innovations de Zimmer Biomet font référence dans le domaine des soins musculo squelettiques. They assist healthcare professionals to help millions of people access a better life quality.

 

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