Records of Think Surgical, Inc.
name: label: Creator
content: Think Surgical, Inc. (Fremont, California)
label: Names
content: Bargar, William L.
label: Names
content: Erbe, Klaus
label: Names
content: Foley, Robert
label: Names
content: Forstein, Micah
label: Engineer
content: Hanson, Randall
label: Names
content: Nacion, Ramon
label: Names
content: Newcomb, Alex
label: Engineer
content: Whiseant, Steve
label: Engineer
content: Zuhars, Joel
topic: label: Topic
content: Inventions -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Inventions -- 21st century
label: Topic
content: Inventors -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Inventors -- 21st century
label: Topic
content: Medical Equipment
label: Topic
content: Medical innovations
label: Topic
content: Orthopedics
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Think Surgical, Inc. through Dr. Mun In-Ki, CEO and President, April 2016.
creator: label: Creator
content: Think Surgical, Inc. (Fremont, California)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Records of Think Surgical, Inc.
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, the first robot to perform surgery on a human in the United States through correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials.
accruals: label: Accruals
content: 152 files (15 .WAV files and 137 .mov files) were transferred from the Division of Medicine and Science to the Archives Center in October 2022.
bioghist: label: Historical
content: ROBODOC™ was the first robot to perform surgery in the United States. It was developed in 1986 by IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, and researchers at the University of California, Davis. They formed a collaborative initiative to develop a surgical device for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). The team included William Bargar, M.D., Howard "Hap" Paul, D.V.M (1949- 1993), and engineers, Brent Mittelstadt and Peter Kazanides. See US Patent 5,769,092 for Computer-aided system for revision total hip replacement surgery and US Patent 5,806,518 for Method and system of positioning surgical robot, 1998. The original company, Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS) was incorporated in 1990. 

The goal of ISS was to create a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. Drilling into bone by hand is not always precise, and often requires glue to fill in empty spaces. Additionally there is a danger the bone will splinter. In this regard, ROBODOC is similar to computer-controlled machine tools. ROBODOC "mills" the bone or joint for accurate fitting similar to machine tools.

In May of 1990 the device was successfully tested on dogs. Since 1998 when it received 510 (K) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Total Hip Arthroplasty over 28,000 procedures have been performed worldwide.   

ROBODOC™ was eventually sold in 2007 to Novatrix Biomedical, Inc. which formed Curexo Medical, Inc. to handle the acquisition of Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (ISS). ISS became THINK Surgical, Inc. in 2014.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.5 Cubic feet (17 boxes, 1 map folder, digital files)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1983-2010
label: Date
content: bulk 1991-1994
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1378
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into six series.

Series 1: Project History and Background Materials, 1985-2003

Series 2: Engineering Materials, 1989-2000, bulk 1991-1993

Series 3: User Guides, 1991-2001

Series 4: Food and Drug Administration, 1987-2001

Series 5: Press Clippings, 1983-2010

Series 6: Audiovisual Materials, 1988-2009
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2016.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting the development of the ROBODOC™. The collection is strong in documentation about regulatory policies and procedures the company undertook for approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

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