Intuitive and IBM sign patent agreement

17 Jun 2002

Intuitive Surgical, Inc., and IBM have completed a patent license agreement which grants Intuitive exclusive rights to more than a dozen U.S. and foreign patents covering research by IBM in the field of computer-enhanced surgery. The agreement adds IBM's research in computer-enhanced surgery, which has resulted in the development of operational robotic surgical systems, to Intuitive's telesurgery technology base which inculdes servo-mechanics, force-feedback, 3D visualization, and surgical instruments for a prototype system which could replace a surgeon's hand motions with remote surgical instruments.