Titan Medical (Toronto, Ontario) announced that it successfully created a prototype of its SPORT (Singe Port Orifice Robotic Technology) surgical system. The system is designed to match the hand movements of a surgeon. Armed with the robotic surgical system, physicians can manipulate tiny instruments inside a patient through a single opening.

One of the company's development partners, Ximedica, plans to launch a pilot program with the SPORT system. As of now, launch dates have not been disclosed.

The robotic surgical system comprises two separate multiarticulated robotic surgical instruments. Each instrument can move with seven degrees of freedom. To ensure good visibility for physicians, the system is equipped with an intraabdominal 3-D HD imaging device. Both the vision system and the robotic surgical instruments are included in a 25 mm diameter port. The entire system is inserted into a patient's body through a 25 mm diameter surgical opening.

Once in a patient, the robotic surgical system can be manipulated by a surgeon at a nearby console. The device can translate hand movements into the movements of instrument shafts, end-effectors and tips. The company believes the robotic surgical market has an estimated value of $4 billion. By 2019, the company believes this market could be worth as much as $19.9 billion.

"We are extremely enthusiastic and encouraged by the recent working demonstration of the functional prototype of the SPORT surgical system," stated John Hargrove, CEO of Titan. "The progress that we have witnessed to this point in time instills a high degree of confidence that we can quickly move towards the pilot project launch stage and then successful commercialization."