Pittsburgh CREATES, an innovation center of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, has signed an agreement with a Massachusetts robotic surgical company.
Financial terms of the collaboration between Vicarious Surgical Inc. and Pittsburgh CREATES weren't disclosed.
The memorandum of understanding announced Wednesday goes beyond previous efforts between Pittsburgh CREATES and Vicarious Surgical. It calls for Pittsburgh CREATES, whose focus is on surgical innovation and robotics in health care, to work with Vicarious Surgical on clinical and operational matters and with Pitt's Center for Preclinical Studies.
Vicarious Surgical's products are what it calls "humanlike surgical robots" that allow surgeons to provide minimally invasive surgery. The company was founded in 2014 and has financial backing of Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and AME Cloud Ventures, among others.
"By formalizing our joint efforts, we establish additional critical strategic partners who can provide distinct insights into shaping our clinical strategy and the implementation of our system in a clinical research setting," said Vicarious Surgical CEO Adam Sachs in a statement. "We look forward to the work ahead as we seek to transform the standard in surgical robotics."
