Sureform

Intuitive’s first single-procedural-use robotic stapler

 I spent 3 years at Intuitive Surgical as a mechanical engineer on the surgical stapler new product design team. One of the major products I worked on was the SureForm stapler. This is a new stapling platform for Intuitive Surgical that utilized an I-Beam firing mechanism versus its cantilever-based predecessor (EndoWrist stapling platform).

Work included:

• Component & Mechanism design

• Optimizing DFM with injection-mold & subtractive vendors

• Component Drawings

• Verification and Reliability Testing

• Business Claims Testing

One major project I lead was the comparison of the tip stability of competitive surgical stapling during clamp and fire. I created a test protocol that maps a stapler tip's movement throughout the firing process by utilizing an Electromagnetic tracker. I asked surgeons to fire on an excised porcine tissue in a simulated abdominal wall. I then collected and processed the data with a MATLAB algorithm. Finally, I analyzed the processed data to directly compare the SureForm 60 stapler with leading competitors.

​During the process, I worked with over 23 surgeons to collect the data. I then worked with the marketing and regulatory teams to create the marketing claims seen today in brochures.