How fast can you bring new RAS tech to market? Know the 3Cs to rapid development

A better approach to Rapid Innovation

Cambridge Design Partnership’s (CDP) new RAS leadership team is headed up by Tom Brittain, James Boonzaier and Jack Hornsby. Reflecting the company’s ongoing investments in the sector, their philosophy about fast delivery is borne out by the organization’s long history of industry success.

CDP helps to augment capability, capacity and culture through close collaboration between its specialists and clients’ own RAS development teams.

“Key to working this way is being able to match highly skilled and technically capable people with the right expertise, experience, personalities, and a passion for RAS, and providing them with the right tools, conditions and working environment within which to do the best possible job,” says Tom Brittain, Head of RAS. “By collaborating closely with our clients’ teams, we’re able to operate as an extension of their own pool of people. And since we’ve been active in this sector, having worked with a number of the big players in surgical robotics, we know this approach works time and time again.”

This way of working, Tom says, enables quick development by providing organizations with turnkey access to deep technical expertise, system-level thinking and user-focused design capabilities. He notes that CDP’s success in the sector relies on a team dedicated and often exclusive to surgical robotics, with bespoke teams of experts often embedding with clients according to the unique requirements of each project.

“We’re passionate about our mission and committed to helping our clients’ RAS projects succeed,” says Tom. “And our approach works, as our track record shows. Since 2019, we’ve built four complete systems, along with multiple subsystems, for clients from the ground up. These have included both blue-sky development and remedial redesign with total system architecture development. Each of these systems has been designed and manufactured in under a year, which represents extraordinary speed in this industry. We have supported several single port trans-umbilical NPD programs, with detailed engineering of capital equipment, disposables and reposables, draping systems and more. This was made possible only by having the right capabilities on site, with the right capacity available as needed, all supported by a culture of innovation.”

“Since 2019, CDP has played a substantial role in four notable product development programs in robotic-assisted surgery, delivering system-level prototypes from the ground up. Each of these has been designed and manufactured in under a year, which represents extraordinary speed in this industry.”

You need a strong foundation from which to build any RAS system

The development of any RAS system requires a strong foundation of strategy and system architecture between hardware and software, all aligned to the clinical user’s needs.

James states, “To ensure strong system architecture for our clients, we really focus on conducting structured clinical needs gathering to generate solid initial hypotheses on key requirements and constraints. Once a strong foundation for the platform architecture is created, we shift our focus to the high-risk areas.”

Risk management is vital throughout the entire process. Jack calls the approach CDP takes “targeted derisking,” adding, “we know from experience what the concept killers are and what we need to do to gain confidence that we’ve solved or avoided them. That is a key element of moving quickly. Not only that, the way in which we derisk is targeted in such a way that we’re not adding more complexity or unknowns. This enables us to iterate designs quickly, learn from each step what works and what doesn’t, and develop working prototypes at speed.”

Putting this approach into practice, CDP developed a single-port RAS prototype platform, moving from an early-stage concept to an alpha system prototype for pre-clinical trials in just seven months. Jack makes the further point that “In addition to speed, the client gets to retain all knowledge and intellectual property rights for any technologies developed for them.”  

“The way in which we derisk is targeted in such a way that we’re not adding more complexity or unknowns. This enables us to iterate designs quickly, learn from each step what works and what doesn’t, and develop working prototypes at speed.”

Speak with CDP at DeviceTalks Boston

Cambridge Design Partnership knows that it takes a true team effort to build a surgical robot and successfully bring it to market while meeting today’s need for rapid development. It requires the integration of interdependent technologies, regulatory scrutiny and exacting clinical demands. CDP has continued to invest in the expertise and processes to support its clients on their journey.

The result is a comprehensive offering unlike one you’ll find anywhere else, with immediate access to deep knowledge in kinematics, human factors, cart design, optics, systems engineering, disposables development and more. And our 26,000-square-foot Pilot Production Center quickly takes a client’s project from concept to prototype build to transfer to manufacturing.

Tom, James and Jack will be speaking at DeviceTalks Boston on April 30 about the importance of the 3Cs (“How Fast Are You? Accelerating Next-Generation Surgical Robotics”), and we’ll also be showcasing a platform we developed that demonstrates our approach, going from early concept to Alpha prototype for preclinical studies in under seven months. And they will be on hand at stand 735 to talk about CDP’s approach to rapid development in RAS. You can also reach out in advance and chat, or book in some time to meet them in Boston.