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August 2009 Meeting:
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Date and Time
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 7:00PM Pacific
at 7:00PM, 5-minute business meeting
at 7:05PM, speaker presentation
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Title
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Aspects of Robotics in the daVinci Surgical System: Motivation, History, Future
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Speaker
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Dr. Bill Nowlin and
Bruce Schena
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Abstract
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Intuitive Surgical makes the daVinci(tm) Surgical System,
which is variously described as a "robot", a "telesurgical system",
and a "mechanism for minimally invasive surgery".
In this presentation, the presenters will give a general introduction
to the device and how surgery is accomplished using it.
We will review the motivation for the technology’s development,
and we will talk a little about the business of robotic surgery.
We will try to give some historical background to credit those on whose shoulders we stand,
and describe the fundamental technological elements (what's neat about it).
For this audience we will focus on the robotic elements of the design,
as well as other essential technologies that together make a functioning product.
Next we will discuss the technical and business challenges, and attempt to describe
where the technology is going in the next few years.
The presenters promise plenty of pictures, videos,
and he hope to bring some hardware to let you explore.
The talk can be very interactive,
and we will happily veer off in a direction determined by the group.
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Biography
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Dr. Bill Nowlin:
Dr. Nowlin joined Intuitive Surgical in 1996 from SRI International,
where he was involved in developing SRI's prototype surgical system,
working on early control architecture and algorithms and interface design.
Dr. Nowlin became part of Intuitive Surgical’s system software leadership team in 1999,
then was promoted to Director in 2001 and Senior Director in 2006.
Dr. Nowlin received his B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Virginia,
where he was honored by each department as its outstanding graduate;
he then received a Masters Degree and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics
from Harvard University, with an application in robotics.
Dr. Nowlin is co-author of several U.S. and international patents.
Since 2007 he has served in the role of Vice President of Product Quality for Intuitive.
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Bruce Schena:
Bruce Schena began working as a consultant to Intuitive Surgical in 2002,
and joined full-time as an Engineering Fellow in 2006. Mr. Schena was one
of the original members of the early-stage architecture team for the flagship daVinci-S, launched in 2006.
He has been a lead architect, inventor, and technical contributor on a wide variety of daVinci’s
components and subsystems including the robotic arms, endoscopic cameras, mobility platform, and surgical instruments.
Bruce received a BSME (1986) and MSME (1987) from MIT, and
completed the Degree of Engineer in Product Design from Stanford in 1995.
He has worked for the Advanced Intelligent Machines division of Odetics Incorporated,
as a designer at IDEO Product Development, was the Chief Technical Officer and
co-founder of Immersion Corporation, and operated his own design consultancy,
Silicontraption, before joining Intuitive. Bruce’s specialty is multidisciplinary
engineering design of electromechanical systems – mainly robots and smart products –
and is a certified “gearhead”. He has 65 issued US patents with another 65 pending.
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