Introduction – Surgical Robotics Evolution
The medical robots market is forming a rapidly growing sector of the medical devices industry. The key factors fuelling this growth attributes to the upsurge in the demand of minimally invasive and automated surgical procedures along with the technological advancements in the products. Integration of robotics technology into surgical instrumentation has substantiated as a refined discipline fit for treating a wide range of critical surgical problems.
As innovative headways persistently develop, the robotic systems have become more autonomous and have offered objective and quantifiable advantages over traditional procedures. Additionally, the room for making errors in complex medical cases also reduces considerably with the virtue of precise minimally invasive and autonomous interventions.
Client Overview- Critical care medical equipment industry
A MedTech company poised to revolutionize the healthcare segment with cutting edge technology had approached Karkhana.io for manufacturing of the components that go into the line items of the surgical C-arm compact high frequency mobile surgical C-arm. Since a surgical robotic arm is designed to facilitate effortless accurate positioning of the end-effector, the components manufactured for this C-arm had to be machined with very tight tolerances.
Since the tolerance stacks of potential structural variances are crucial for optimum quality and performance superiority, conforming to these tolerance requirements becomes critical in the product manufacturing phase. Moreover, the surgical C-arm comes in direct contact with the patients hence materials and the final coating of these components has to be in accordance with the safety standards
Managing complexities with high-quality production
The C-arm is designed to move with a flexible range of motion while also providing coordinate information for surgical navigation. Throughout the development process, the team had coordinated with Karkhana.io to produce precision machined robotic parts.
The production run had to be high-mix and low volume to cater the requirement of hundreds of line items culminating into a single unit. To find the perfect suppliers to manufacture these parts Karkhana.io relied on their huge supplier base that can offer these services with competitive costs and lead times. This enabled the client to maintain the flexibility to keep a low inventory and scale up to meet demand at any time.
With the help of Karkhana.io, the team was able to source parts that assemble precisely, with various complex geometric planes connecting tightly.These medical-grade parts, certified as inert and biocompatible materials, work together to make a successful surgical robot. The incorporation of multiple manufacturing processes in one robot has enabled the design team to create a surgical robot with a geometry and build exactly customized to its end-use.
Leveraging Karkhana.io for machining and post-processing
Analyzing the mating components and interfacing of the design is the most critical function in the product development process. Since tolerances control the degree of variation of each feature, they form the pivot point to control the entire CNC machining accuracy and precision thereby allowing a part to function properly.
Karkhana.io has a wide network of supplier base capable of meeting these high tolerances demand and provide immediate feedback to the designers if there were any constraints in the manufacturability of the product. A combination of single step operations to achieve wider tolerances and high-precision complex operations to achieve tighter tolerances enabled the manufacturing team to restrict the machining cost and maintain the overall capital expenditure.
Since proper DFM and tolerancing a part requires a cross-functional approach, inputs from the design and manufacturing team were to be gathered and weighed in order to determine the required tolerance to be applied to a feature or a dimension. Karkhana.io’s portal provides the perfect platform to address this issue and seamlessly transition from quotation to manufacturing.
MIG welding was done to the majority of the parts in the assembly stage while laser welding was employed for the critical joint parts. With parts ranging in size, weight and complexity we were able to get a multitude of parts welded together and address all the modification requirements to suit the fluctuating production needs and evolving product line of the client. Additionally, in order to provide a sturdy design with durable and long-lasting resistance to chemicals and corrosion, suitable plating, top and powder coating or PU coat.
Accelerating time to market with Karkhana.io’s digital manufacturing platform
With Karkhana.io’s digital manufacturing platform, the client was able to get a one-stop solution for quick design validation, manufacturability feedback and complete end-to-end project management with quality checks and logistics. This collaboration also enabled them to get a holistic view of the product and process design.
