HOUSTON – (By Michelle Leigh Smith for Realty News Report) – Collaboration took center stage when the ABB Robotics team discovered that their $40,000 dual-arm robot, YuMi—excellent at repetitive, delicate tasks—couldn’t cut the ceremonial ribbon at the opening of ABB’s first global healthcare research hub at the Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute.
That’s when surgeon Billy Cohn’s team from the neighboring Center of Device Innovation stepped in. “We called it Operation Hotwire,” said Cohn, Executive Director of the CDI and Vice President of Medical Devices for Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies and J&J Innovation. “On Friday afternoon we went to CVS, bought a $10 remote-control car, removed the electronics from the controller, added flashlight batteries and fashioned a tool YuMi could grip to cut the ribbon by Sunday morning.”
Cohn describes robotics as “the next big frontier” and emphasized his desire to partner closely with ABB to develop more medical innovations. ABB’s YuMi is equipped with laser sensors and can safely navigate hospital corridors to transport medication and equipment, freeing staff for other tasks. In ABB demonstrations, YuMi shook liquids for genetic procedures, pipetted samples into test tubes and transported results to the next station, even handling agar plates and microbiological stamping.
ABB’s IRB 1200 robot also assisted researchers by tending centrifuges—an ongoing task that increases throughput and consistency while reducing costs. ABB research projects the global market for non-surgical medical robots could reach 60,000 units by 2025, roughly quadrupling 2018 levels.
These robots can autonomously navigate labs and, with automation, perform many tasks as much as 50 percent faster.
Marc Segura, Group Vice President for Service at ABB, led a tour of the 5,400-square-foot logistics and research lab at 2450 Holcombe on the John P. McGovern tech campus. He praised Houston’s open, collaborative culture. “We approached Bill McKeon (President and CEO of TMC) about this idea eighteen months ago, and here we are—that couldn’t happen just anywhere,” Segura said. He flew in from Barcelona for the opening event.
The new ABB robotics facility helps keep the Texas Medical Center at the forefront of life-science innovation.
Segura moderated a panel with cardiac surgeon Billy Cohn, Bill McKeon and James Versalovic, Chief Pathologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, discussing how robots might fit into the hospital of the future.
“What we lack now in the pediatric environment is automation, so the added versatility robots offer will be crucial,” Versalovic said. “Here, we can identify the best applications for robotics. That’s why incubator spaces are so valuable—new technologies can be tested and refined, then deployed quickly.”
Cohn noted three main barriers to getting new technologies to the bedside: regulatory clearance and approval, reimbursement or purchase decisions, and clinician adoption. “There’s value in choosing projects where you won’t face overwhelming headwinds. When challenges are manageable, you hunker down and prepare for the journey,” he said.
ABB is headquartered in Zurich with U.S. operations centered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Houston lab will begin with 20 research engineers and room to expand.
“Texas Medical Center, TMC Innovation, and our member institutions are pleased to welcome ABB as it makes its first entry into healthcare with this unprecedented robotics facility,” McKeon said. “A primary goal across TMC—the largest medical city in the world—is to accelerate research while reducing costs to deliver faster, more affordable solutions to patients in need. ABB’s R&D presence at the heart of the TMC campus will chart a new course for medical advances and establish TMC as a hub for synergistic partnerships that will shape the future of care for clinicians, researchers and patients.”
The Texas Medical Center fosters cross-institution collaboration, creativity and innovation across its workforce of 106,000. Its campus spans more than 50 million square feet, and annually TMC serves 10 million patients, performs over 180,000 surgeries, records more than 750,000 ER visits, conducts nearly 14,000 heart surgeries and delivers over 25,000 babies.
Oct. 9, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
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