Google Inc has struck a deal with healthcare company Johnson & Johnson to develop surgical robots that use artificial intelligence.
Google’s life sciences division is set to work with Johnson & Johnson’s medical device company Ethicon to create a robotics-assisted surgical platform to help doctors in the operating theater.
The robots will aid surgeons in minimally invasive operations, giving operators greater control and accuracy than is possible by hand, minimizing trauma and damage to the patient. Some systems allow surgeons to remotely control devices inside the patient’s body to minimize entry wounds and reduce blood loss and scarring.
Robotic surgical systems like the Da Vinci device developed by Imperial College London have been used in general operations since the early 2000s, and even starred in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough in 2002.
Google believes it can enhance the robotic tools using artificial intelligence technologies, including machine vision and image analysis employed in other parts of the business, including its self-driving cars.
The two companies will explore how advanced imaging and sensors could complement surgeons’ abilities, for example by highlighting blood vessels, nerve cells, tumor margins or other important structures that could be hard to discern in tissue by eye or on a screen.
Augmented reality systems are to be used to overlay important information required during surgery that is typically displayed on multiple monitors stacked around the surgeon, such as preoperative images, lab test results and details of previous surgeries.
“We look forward to exploring how smart software could help give surgeons the information they need at just the right time during an operation,” Google head of the life sciences Andy Conrad said.
Google will provide software and expertise for data analysis and vision, but will not be developing the control mechanisms for the robots.
The partnership will help Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest healthcare product manufacturer, compete in the growing field of robotic medical devices.
Google’s life sciences team is also developing systems that can detect cancer and heart attacks using nano particles, and has worked on smart contact lenses that contain sensors capable of monitoring the signs of diabetes — technology that was licensed by the Swiss drug firm Novartis in July last year to develop into a practical medical application.
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