South Korean surgical robot maker Curexo Inc. has joined hands with U.S. Microsoft Corp. to develop medical robots that use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, raising hopes that an AI robot could lead many steps in a surgery from operation planning to cutting.

According to multiple industry sources on Sunday, Microsoft, which is engaged in a project that joins strategic hands with about 100 business entities every year, has recently signed a software cloud usage service agreement with Curexo for a project.

“A surgeon will be able to simply access the cloud with a login ID and check the suggested operating procedure put forward by the AI software based on computed tomography and other data, without any physical device on hand,” said Lee Jae-jun, chief executive officer of Curexo. “At the moment, our surgical robots are only partly automated but eventually, we are seeking to develop robots that will be able to propose optimized operation plans based on AI data to analyze operation post-surgery images and to provide a suggested operating procedure for next time.”

Currently, a doctor should design the operation based on CT images and other data before the Curexo robot contributes to any spine or artificial joint surgery. A Curexo robot is simply an assistant to the doctor, who performs most of the operation steps.

In partnership with Microsoft, Curexo is expected to reach its goal of becoming a global surgical robot maker within five years.

“We hope that we will become a digital healthcare solution provider based on AI, augmented reality, and robot technologies, with a goal of earning 50 billion won ($38.4 million) in sales solely from surgical robots by 2024 and eventually earning 100 billion won by 2025,” Lee said.

Curexo first launched a medical business in 2006 and was acquired by hy Co., formerly known as Korea Yakult, in 2011. Curexo sold only one or two robots a year until 2017 but it started to make a presence in the surgical robot industry after it bought the medical robot business of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in 2017.

Curexo quickly became a top surgical robot maker after the takeover, selling 18 high-end surgical robots worth hundreds of millions of won each in 2020, 30 in 2021, and 62 in 2022. The company raised 21.2 billion won from its robot business from its entire sales of 65 billion won in 2022.

“We invested 5 to 6 billion won every year to develop new robots,” Lee said, who formerly served as a director at hy. Lee estimates the company will earn more than 30 billion won this year from surgical robots.

Curexo currently sells three types of surgical robots, including Korea’s first spine surgical robot, artificial joint surgical robots, and gait rehabilitation robots. The company’s artificial joint surgical robot was used 4,000 times for joint operations inside and outside Korea. Its gait rehabilitation robot Morning Walk has been tested in 40,000 treatments.

Curexo is eyeing the U.S. market with its artificial joint surgical robot, following the Indian market. The company combined its robotics machine with U.S. artificial joint surgery software “TPLAN,” made by Think Surgical Inc. (TSI). Curexo and TSI are seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of this year to release the TPLAN-using robot in the U.S. by 2024. Curexo will handle systems development and production, while TSI marketing and sales.

“We are getting lots of feedback from experienced sales staff who have sold many surgical robots through TSI advisor doctors,” Lee said.

The surgical robot market is estimated to be worth about 12 trillion won as of 2022. About 76 percent of those robots are laparoscopic surgery robots. While the market is projected to grow to 20 trillion won, robots in orthopedics and neurosurgery are predicted to grow to account for 30 percent of the market.

By Kim Si-gyun and Chang Iou-chung

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