Surgerii's Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgical Robot Makes China's Debut at AUA 2023
From April 28 to May 1, the 118th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) was grandly held in Chicago. Dedicated to advancing the latest developments in urology, the AUA Annual Meeting is a global event that brought together 15,000 experts and scholars from over 90 countries, including urologists, fellows, educators, technicians, and medical assistants.As the only Chinese surgical robot featured at the AUA, the Shurui Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgical Robot became the center of attention. Numerous experts and scholars from around the world expressed admiration for how this original Chinese innovation has expanded the options available for minimally invasive surgery.
In the field of laparoscopic surgical robots, Intuitive Surgical, Inc.’s da Vinci multi-port robotic system (da Vinci Surgical System) has long held a dominant market position, once facing no rivals, thanks to its first-mover advantages such as an early technological start, comprehensive patent coverage, lengthy market presence, and widespread global adoption. More than two decades after Intuitive Surgical’s establishment, ShuRui Robotics stood side by side with da Vinci at a major global urology conference in the United States, showcasing its proprietary technological prowess and confidence.
After 18 years of refinement, Professor Xu Kai, founder of Surgerii Robotics, has launched the Surgerii Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, featuring a nickel-titanium alloy serpentine surgical arm based on the innovative “dual-continuum mechanism” design. To date, Surgerii Robotics holds or has applied for nearly 600 intellectual property rights worldwide, including invention patents in China, the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan, and South Korea, thereby establishing a comprehensive intellectual property moat.
As the second surgical robot in the entire exhibition, aside from da Vinci, the Shurui single-port surgical robotMore than 100 urologists from North America, South America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and other countries queued up for test drives. The ShuRui Robotics booth remained bustling with visitors throughout the event.
Dr. Vipul Patel, President of the Global Robotics Association, led his team to the Surgerii booth for a hands-on trial.Dr. Patel highly praised the flexibility of the SurgeriBot’s robotic operations and the extensive range of motion of its serpentine surgical arms, stating that the comprehensive performance of the SurgeriBot rivals international advanced standards.
Dr. Patel Interviewed
"Under the premise of ensuring patient safety and surgical outcomes, seeking less invasive procedures has always been the continuous goal pursued by minimally invasive surgeons."
Compared with multi-port surgical robots, which require multiple incisions in the patient’s abdominal cavity (typically four small ports plus one larger port for specimen extraction), single-port surgical robots need only a single incision to insert all surgical instruments. This approach offers the advantages of reduced patient trauma and faster postoperative recovery. Leveraging its independently developed “dual continuum mechanism” design, the Surgerii surgical robot features highly rigid, continuous serpentine arms that deliver flexible and precise movements. These arms can perform complex surgical maneuvers within confined spaces, achieving full six-plus-one degree-of-freedom motion independently inside the patient’s body. Furthermore, the external robotic arms remain stationary during surgery, thereby eliminating the inherent risk of collisions associated with the external arms of multi-port surgical robots and enhancing procedural safety.
At the AUA,Dr. Patel stated bluntly that single-port surgical robots will ultimately replace multi-port systems.Furthermore, urology experts from around the world have highly recognized single-port technology. “Patient benefit is paramount; the smaller surgical instruments and minimally invasive incisions of single-port robots undoubtedly deliver more tangible benefits to patients,” “Single-port technology empowers physicians,” and “Single-port is a highly promising technology.” It has become a global consensus among urologists that single-port surgery represents the future development trend of minimally invasive surgery.
Shurui remains committed to developing next-generation surgical robots with original technologies, striving to become a world-class leader in minimally invasive surgical innovation.
Since 2021, Shurui Robotics has established clinical collaborations with numerous top-tier hospitals in China, successfully completing a series of innovative clinical trials and procedures. These milestones include the world’s first randomized controlled trial of single-port robotic surgery, the world’s first pure single-port robotic retroperitoneal adrenalectomy for adrenal tumors, Asia’s first pure single-port robotic radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, Asia’s first pure single-port robotic partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma, China’s first single-port robotic radical sigmoidectomy for sigmoid colon cancer, China’s first pure single-port robotic resection of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), China’s first pure single-port robotic excision of choledochal cysts combined with Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in pediatric patients, and China’s first pure single-port robotic resection of ovarian teratomas in pediatric patients. These achievements have significantly contributed to the high-quality development of its partner hospitals.
The impressive debut of the Surgerii Robot at the AUA (American Urological Association) Annual Meeting marks a significant step in the global strategic expansion of China’s independently developed, original single-port endoscopic surgical robot. Seizing this opportunity, Surgerii Robot will continue to broaden the application fields and surgical procedures for its single-port surgical system, leveraging innovative technologies to lead the future direction of minimally invasive surgery.
About Dr.Patel
Medical Director, Global Robotics Institute, Celebration Health
Medical Director, AdventHealth Cancer Institute Urologic Oncology Program
Medical Director, AdventHealth RAMIS Task Force
Professor of Urology, University of Central Florida
Dr. Patel is world-renowned for his contributions to robot-assisted surgery and authored the first textbook on robotic urologic surgery. He is one of the most experienced robotic surgeons globally, having personally performed 16,000 robotic procedures.
