Thought Summary from Device Talks / Healthcare Robotics / Insulet CEO Shacey Petrovic

The Agile team recently attended Device Talks in Boston and share a couple of highlights and points of interest from the show…

Healthcare Robotics: The impact of 5G was on everyone’s mind, because for most robotics players, 5G will enable huge progress both in terms of development and product capability.  

This 5G upside is matched by skepticism, with some betting on 4G as the wise choice to focus on for now, given the need for redundancy in a hospital environment. Security was discussed as an ongoing concern, as was standardization. A call for collaboration among firms in the healthcare robotics space was the final takeaway, as a way to accelerate learning and enable technology (i.e. beat the competition). This informative panel included Todd Usen, CEO of Active Surgical, Doug Teany, COO of Corindus Vascular Robotics and Prof. Gregory Fisher of WPI’s Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Robotics Department.  

Insulet Keynote: President and CEO Shacey Petrovic spoke with pride about the $200 million her company invested in the new global HQ in Acton, MA, complete with state-of-the-art manufacturing to complement their facility in China. At a time when many are moving manufacturing out-of-state, this local commitment is notable.

Shacey also pointed to the intersection of consumerism with healthcare as being central to where devices are headed in the future. Ease of use is the driver for consumers and patients alike and is a trend that is impacting new product development of their Omnipod Insulin Management system as Insulet strives for interoperability in the future. This feature will allow users to control the insulin device from their cell phones, which is a goal Medtronic also seems to be aiming for with its recent partnering with Tidepool, an opensource app entity. 

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                                   With warm regards,

                                   The Agile Search Team

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