Pushing nation's technological frontiers

After eight years of development, an innovative surgical robot has recently secured China's first domestic registration certificate for a coronary interventional surgical robot approved by the National Medical Products Administration.

Developed by Beijing-based medical equipment firm WeMed Medical Technology Co Ltd, the ETcath robot marks the country's first homegrown surgical robot for cardiovascular interventions.

"Our force feedback technology is the world's first of its kind — in simple terms, this robot has 'touch', capable of detecting forces as weak as 0.01 newton during surgery," said Yang He, CEO of WeMed. Without this force feedback system, a surgical robot cannot relay real-time tactile information to surgeons, increasing the risk of vessel penetration or damage, Yang added.