Scalpel! Google moves into robotic surgery By Kapitall,March 31, 2015, 02:32:06 PM EDT AAA By David Floyd for Kapitall Robots have been present in the operating room since the '80s, but last week'sannouncement that Google( GOOG ) will partner with Johnson & Johnson 's ( JNJ ) medical device arm Ethicon to develop robotic surgery systems could mark a turning point in this still-budding area of the healthcare sector.Robotics is becoming increasingly familiar territory for Google. In 2013 the firmbought Boston Dynamics, an MIT spinoff that had developed robots for the military. But patients need not worry that this thingwill be wielding a scalpel. Nor will the company channel its self-driving car ambitions into the realm of surgery. For the foreseeable future, these robots will be guided by humans with MDs.In any case, Ethicon will be leading the charge when it comes to developing the actual robotics and medical devices. Google'srolewill be to develop imaging tools and sensors, as well as more intuitive and effective ways to present information to surgeons-perhaps taking some of the cluttering out of the operating room.Google is also making more frequent forays into the fields of healthcare and biotech, starting with its failed Google Health project. Google's biotech spinoff Calico announced in September that it would partner withAbbVie( ABBV ) to research and treat health problems related to aging. Through its secretive innovation wing Google X, the company is trying to paint a picture of the ideal human genome as well as, through Google Ventures, to allow people to live to 500 .Think that's scary? So do many privacy advocates, who were at odds with Google long before it started collecting information on people's genes. But in the short term, the ones who are really quaking in their boots are those with a stake in Intuitive Surgical( ISRG ), the medical robotics company that is now making headlines for being in the Mountain View Juggernaut's path.Not that Google's latest partnership is its only concern. Intuitive Surgical is involved in at least 50 lawsuits regarding its da Vinci robot. Plaintiffs have alleged that the machine itself caused them injury or even death as a result of malfunctions or poor design, as well as that the company failed to train operators sufficiently. On the other hand, Wedbush's Tao Levy has said that Intuitive Surgical's hernia treatments could lift its annual revenue by a third.If Google's aim is to increase the safety of surgical procedures, they will certainly have to do better than Intuitive Surgical. Meanwhile investors should watch Google's expansion into the healthcare sector carefully.
Google攜手嬌生 打造機器人外科醫生 發稿時間：2015/03/28 09:15 最新更新：2015/03/28 09:15 （中央社舊金山27日綜合外電報導）谷歌（Google）將與嬌生集團（J&J）合作打造機器人外科醫生，派機器人大軍進軍醫療產業。英國「每日電訊報」（Daily Telegraph）報導，谷歌將與嬌生集團旗下公司Ethicon合作，為執行微創手術的外科醫生研發新機器人技術。谷歌生命科學團隊主管康拉德（Andy Conrad）說：「我們期望探索智慧軟體如何能在手術期間的正確時間，提供外科醫師所需資訊。」兩公司間的合約財務細節未公開。這不是谷歌首度進軍醫療照護產業，先前這家科技巨擘已與瑞士製藥商諾華集團（Novartis）研發可透過糖尿病病患眼淚，追蹤血糖的「智慧隱形眼鏡」。嬌生集團表示，兩家企業將「在技術、智慧財產和專業上合作，打造得以整合先進技術打造創新機器人輔助手術平台，目標增進手術室中的醫療保健服務」。Ethicon是全球最大手術裝置製造商之一，但沒有生產過任何機器人技術。機器人手術是醫療照護的當紅領域，據信可以提高手術過程的精準度，減少創傷和縮短病患復原期。不過這個產業也面臨壓力，手術機器人成本可能高達150萬美元，因為許多人質疑其附帶好處，是不是值這個價。（譯者：中央社張詠晴）1040328
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