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Chris Jeffery, MBBS, loves to solve problems. As an engineer, orthopedic physician and serial entrepreneur, there’s nothing more meaningful to him than fixing the complex challenges he and his colleagues face in the O.R.
“Patients do better when we operate faster and with more reliability and less trauma,” Dr. Jeffery said. “That is largely relevant in arthroscopy, because we aren’t objectively good at it. Patients receive suboptimal arthroscopic procedures for multiple reasons.”
Due to the need to physically interact with the patient and manually control instruments, tradeoffs commonly occur with patient positioning. Also, surgeons sometimes miss treating additional injuries due to the inability to maneuver in tight spaces. Meniscus injuries are not identified in about 20% of ACL repair surgeries, which can lead to a second surgery, he said.
Both of these issues can be overcome with a robot that offers surgical control and precision, said Dr. Jeffery, who has an interest in minimally invasive orthopedic procedures. He is the Founder and CEO of Convergence Medical, an Australian-based company that seeks to commercialize V01, an orthopedic arthroscopic robot.
V01 is designed to cover the full suite of operative requirements for a diverse set of arthroscopic procedures. The company noted that 30,000 surgeons perform arthroscopic procedures on more than 50 million patients every year.
The robot is equipped with three halo-mounted high-precision robotic arms that boast 21 degrees of freedom. Each arm provides integrated inflow and outflow control that regulates joint temperature, pressure and flow. The system also supports RF ablation and shaving, which provide a range of surgical actions. An additional two arms can be added to the robot to provide a vision channel with LED and ultra-high-definition scopes. Convergence Medical plans to consign the robot and sell its associated instruments, which include sterile, single-use graspers, biters and probes.
“Orthopedic surgeons don’t have the precision with manual instruments that we use to get the job done,” Dr. Jeffery said. “The robot can have 30 times increased precision compared to the human. There are no tremors, and it’s always at the optimal point. As a surgeon, you can do things faster and with less compromise. Those were the elements I considered when I looked at whether this was a viable business case.”
Convergence Medical was founded in September 2022 and raised $3 million in its angel and initial seed round. It received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in December 2023 and expects to reach market by the end of 2025.
This is the third company that Dr. Jeffery has launched and second in the orthopedic space. He founded Field Orthopaedics, which is focused on hand trauma care. We spoke with Dr. Jeffery about what problems the company seeks to solve with V01 and how it will create a new market for arthroscopic surgery. His comments were edited for brevity.
What arthroscopic procedures do you plan to target?
Dr. Jeffery: Our Breakthrough Device Designation status covers the arthroscopic applications of the robot, which are comprehensive, but we plan to target four specific procedures: meniscal, ACL, rotator cuff and labrum repair and reconstruction.
What problems do you seek to solve for the patient and surgeon?
Dr. Jeffery: Healthcare doesn’t just have patients and surgeons. We have end users, consumers, facilitators and financers, and they all need to experience value or else a new product won’t be successful.
Surgeons face issues with cognitive burden and physical strain. The O.R. is filled with distractions that can lead to impaired decisions. Throughout the day, surgeons get physically and mentally tired, which can impact performance.
A recent U.S. study noted that 10% of orthopedic surgeons surveyed took at least three weeks off work over the previous 12 months because of occupational injury. Another publication said that 70% of surgeons in Australia regularly suffer from musculoskeletal pain, and 30% of them retire or stop doing arthroscopic procedures before 50 years of age because of that pain. This has become prevalent. Pain compromises performance and compromises care.
For the patient, V01 offers better positioning without compromising care. Patients have had to be at the precipice of clinical outcomes versus physical pragmatics, such as the need to be operated on in beach chair position. The patient can now have the best outcome without the tradeoffs. It can be a quicker procedure, which means less anesthetic, cardiovascular insult and swelling, the latter of which can return patients to quality of life sooner.
About 60% of arthroscopy procedures are performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The ASC staff is there to provide care and not manage equipment, repairs and maintenance. Our robot has an autonomous inventory management system that is IR tag- and RFID-based. If you use an instrument, it checks it off, sends the bill and replaces the order. The hospital or ASC no longer needs to maintain their stacks, cameras or power tools, and they don’t need to reprocess trays. It’s quicker, smarter and more efficient. We believe our technology can save 15 minutes on O.R. turnaround per case.
For the insurer, hopefully, this leads to fewer complications, but there’s also no change to the cost of care.
Why haven’t we seen a robot for orthopedic arthroscopic procedures before?
Dr. Jeffery: We often say that innovation occurs by acquisition. Companies with big budgets are focused on providing clinical services for the products on the market and haven’t had the potential to develop or acquire technology like this.
Also, advancements in robotics over the last five years have made this technology viable. From a usability and user experience point of view, the demands on the technology are much greater than what we’ve experienced with scope holders in the past. Some platforms control crude camera movements – forward, back, left, right, rotation – with a foot pedal. That would not cut it when it comes to arthroscopic procedures.
Latency was also a factor before. Computer processing used to be too slow for arthroscopic procedures. You need data transmission from visualization to execution of an action in less than 150 milliseconds.
We’re lucky that the revolution in mixed reality, augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) has improved robotic performance. Our robot supports control through both a user console and VR/AR headset.
V01 is equipped with three halo-mounted high-precision robotic arms that boast 21 degrees of freedom. It’s designed to cover the full suite of operative requirements for a diverse set of arthroscopic procedures.
What were the initial R&D challenges you had to overcome with your robot?
Dr. Jeffery: We started with the idea of addressing issues in arthroscopy. We then had to determine what the technology might look like, and a robot was one of those solutions.
We had to think about how a robot sits around the table. We have a halo design so the robot doesn’t get in the way of the surgeon. It doesn’t block part of the bed. It just hangs like an O.R. light. Then we thought about how the arms should move. Our arm design has six degrees of freedom and another three degrees of freedom built into the smart endplate to allow instruments to function.
Then there was the monstrous approach of building all those subsystems for best-in-class level performance. It required a lot of hard work, dedication to the process and focus on the challenge in front of us, one step at a time.
Robotics and enabling technology have gained a lot of attention in orthopedics, but face headwinds when it comes to adoption. What challenges do you expect to encounter knowing that you’re creating a robot for a new market?
Dr. Jeffery: There are pros and cons to coming to market decades after a technology’s conception, and we can learn from the surgical robots of the past. It’s not a like-to-like comparison, though. You can’t compare Da Vinci to Mako or Mako to our robot.
We do know that over the 24 years that Da Vinci has been on the market, they’ve released about 8,000 robots and have low adoption in their primary market. I think that’s because they have a capital sales model and outdated processes with logistics, supply and reprocessed devices. Capital sales are barriers to entry and restrict access and adoption of technology. We know that hospitals love sterile, single-use, convenient supply and optimized logistical pathways.
Convergence doesn’t sell robots; we sell case-based consumables. We provide the robot and we are billed for the use of consumables on the platform, just like a hospital would bill for a plate and screws under consignment. This is the system and business model that we know and like.
The other point is around cost. We’re trying to provide this solution without changing the total cost of care. There will be items like articulated burrs, where surgeons may see added value for them and will pay an added price. Our portfolio solution will include traditional inventory and modern articulated inventory. In some cases, like FIA hip surgery, a surgeon might want to use an articulated instrument. In a case like an ACL repair, probably not.
Regarding clinical outcomes, we know that there are advantages to our platform. FDA agrees, which is why the agency granted us Breakthrough Device Designation. While arthroscopy is different than joint replacement, clinical studies have shown that having someone to collaborate with in the operating theater, even if it’s just a robot, aids in cutting and balancing as you want to. Patients who underwent robotic-assisted surgery left the hospital sooner and returned to function quicker.
Our biggest barrier will be access to robots. It will take time to grow because of the uniqueness of the platform. In November 2025, we plan to launch one robot in California. We plan to place 30 robots by the middle of 2026.
Chris Jeffery, MBBS, loves to solve problems. As an engineer, orthopedic physician and serial entrepreneur, there’s nothing more meaningful to him than fixing the complex challenges he and his colleagues face in the O.R.
“Patients do better when we operate faster and with more reliability and less trauma,” Dr. Jeffery said. “That is...
Chris Jeffery, MBBS, loves to solve problems. As an engineer, orthopedic physician and serial entrepreneur, there’s nothing more meaningful to him than fixing the complex challenges he and his colleagues face in the O.R.
“Patients do better when we operate faster and with more reliability and less trauma,” Dr. Jeffery said. “That is largely relevant in arthroscopy, because we aren’t objectively good at it. Patients receive suboptimal arthroscopic procedures for multiple reasons.”
Due to the need to physically interact with the patient and manually control instruments, tradeoffs commonly occur with patient positioning. Also, surgeons sometimes miss treating additional injuries due to the inability to maneuver in tight spaces. Meniscus injuries are not identified in about 20% of ACL repair surgeries, which can lead to a second surgery, he said.
Both of these issues can be overcome with a robot that offers surgical control and precision, said Dr. Jeffery, who has an interest in minimally invasive orthopedic procedures. He is the Founder and CEO of Convergence Medical, an Australian-based company that seeks to commercialize V01, an orthopedic arthroscopic robot.
V01 is designed to cover the full suite of operative requirements for a diverse set of arthroscopic procedures. The company noted that 30,000 surgeons perform arthroscopic procedures on more than 50 million patients every year.
The robot is equipped with three halo-mounted high-precision robotic arms that boast 21 degrees of freedom. Each arm provides integrated inflow and outflow control that regulates joint temperature, pressure and flow. The system also supports RF ablation and shaving, which provide a range of surgical actions. An additional two arms can be added to the robot to provide a vision channel with LED and ultra-high-definition scopes. Convergence Medical plans to consign the robot and sell its associated instruments, which include sterile, single-use graspers, biters and probes.
“Orthopedic surgeons don’t have the precision with manual instruments that we use to get the job done,” Dr. Jeffery said. “The robot can have 30 times increased precision compared to the human. There are no tremors, and it’s always at the optimal point. As a surgeon, you can do things faster and with less compromise. Those were the elements I considered when I looked at whether this was a viable business case.”
Convergence Medical was founded in September 2022 and raised $3 million in its angel and initial seed round. It received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in December 2023 and expects to reach market by the end of 2025.
This is the third company that Dr. Jeffery has launched and second in the orthopedic space. He founded Field Orthopaedics, which is focused on hand trauma care. We spoke with Dr. Jeffery about what problems the company seeks to solve with V01 and how it will create a new market for arthroscopic surgery. His comments were edited for brevity.
What arthroscopic procedures do you plan to target?
Dr. Jeffery: Our Breakthrough Device Designation status covers the arthroscopic applications of the robot, which are comprehensive, but we plan to target four specific procedures: meniscal, ACL, rotator cuff and labrum repair and reconstruction.
What problems do you seek to solve for the patient and surgeon?
Dr. Jeffery: Healthcare doesn’t just have patients and surgeons. We have end users, consumers, facilitators and financers, and they all need to experience value or else a new product won’t be successful.
Surgeons face issues with cognitive burden and physical strain. The O.R. is filled with distractions that can lead to impaired decisions. Throughout the day, surgeons get physically and mentally tired, which can impact performance.
A recent U.S. study noted that 10% of orthopedic surgeons surveyed took at least three weeks off work over the previous 12 months because of occupational injury. Another publication said that 70% of surgeons in Australia regularly suffer from musculoskeletal pain, and 30% of them retire or stop doing arthroscopic procedures before 50 years of age because of that pain. This has become prevalent. Pain compromises performance and compromises care.
For the patient, V01 offers better positioning without compromising care. Patients have had to be at the precipice of clinical outcomes versus physical pragmatics, such as the need to be operated on in beach chair position. The patient can now have the best outcome without the tradeoffs. It can be a quicker procedure, which means less anesthetic, cardiovascular insult and swelling, the latter of which can return patients to quality of life sooner.
About 60% of arthroscopy procedures are performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The ASC staff is there to provide care and not manage equipment, repairs and maintenance. Our robot has an autonomous inventory management system that is IR tag- and RFID-based. If you use an instrument, it checks it off, sends the bill and replaces the order. The hospital or ASC no longer needs to maintain their stacks, cameras or power tools, and they don’t need to reprocess trays. It’s quicker, smarter and more efficient. We believe our technology can save 15 minutes on O.R. turnaround per case.
For the insurer, hopefully, this leads to fewer complications, but there’s also no change to the cost of care.
Why haven’t we seen a robot for orthopedic arthroscopic procedures before?
Dr. Jeffery: We often say that innovation occurs by acquisition. Companies with big budgets are focused on providing clinical services for the products on the market and haven’t had the potential to develop or acquire technology like this.
Also, advancements in robotics over the last five years have made this technology viable. From a usability and user experience point of view, the demands on the technology are much greater than what we’ve experienced with scope holders in the past. Some platforms control crude camera movements – forward, back, left, right, rotation – with a foot pedal. That would not cut it when it comes to arthroscopic procedures.
Latency was also a factor before. Computer processing used to be too slow for arthroscopic procedures. You need data transmission from visualization to execution of an action in less than 150 milliseconds.
We’re lucky that the revolution in mixed reality, augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) has improved robotic performance. Our robot supports control through both a user console and VR/AR headset.
V01 is equipped with three halo-mounted high-precision robotic arms that boast 21 degrees of freedom. It’s designed to cover the full suite of operative requirements for a diverse set of arthroscopic procedures.
What were the initial R&D challenges you had to overcome with your robot?
Dr. Jeffery: We started with the idea of addressing issues in arthroscopy. We then had to determine what the technology might look like, and a robot was one of those solutions.
We had to think about how a robot sits around the table. We have a halo design so the robot doesn’t get in the way of the surgeon. It doesn’t block part of the bed. It just hangs like an O.R. light. Then we thought about how the arms should move. Our arm design has six degrees of freedom and another three degrees of freedom built into the smart endplate to allow instruments to function.
Then there was the monstrous approach of building all those subsystems for best-in-class level performance. It required a lot of hard work, dedication to the process and focus on the challenge in front of us, one step at a time.
Robotics and enabling technology have gained a lot of attention in orthopedics, but face headwinds when it comes to adoption. What challenges do you expect to encounter knowing that you’re creating a robot for a new market?
Dr. Jeffery: There are pros and cons to coming to market decades after a technology’s conception, and we can learn from the surgical robots of the past. It’s not a like-to-like comparison, though. You can’t compare Da Vinci to Mako or Mako to our robot.
We do know that over the 24 years that Da Vinci has been on the market, they’ve released about 8,000 robots and have low adoption in their primary market. I think that’s because they have a capital sales model and outdated processes with logistics, supply and reprocessed devices. Capital sales are barriers to entry and restrict access and adoption of technology. We know that hospitals love sterile, single-use, convenient supply and optimized logistical pathways.
Convergence doesn’t sell robots; we sell case-based consumables. We provide the robot and we are billed for the use of consumables on the platform, just like a hospital would bill for a plate and screws under consignment. This is the system and business model that we know and like.
The other point is around cost. We’re trying to provide this solution without changing the total cost of care. There will be items like articulated burrs, where surgeons may see added value for them and will pay an added price. Our portfolio solution will include traditional inventory and modern articulated inventory. In some cases, like FIA hip surgery, a surgeon might want to use an articulated instrument. In a case like an ACL repair, probably not.
Regarding clinical outcomes, we know that there are advantages to our platform. FDA agrees, which is why the agency granted us Breakthrough Device Designation. While arthroscopy is different than joint replacement, clinical studies have shown that having someone to collaborate with in the operating theater, even if it’s just a robot, aids in cutting and balancing as you want to. Patients who underwent robotic-assisted surgery left the hospital sooner and returned to function quicker.
Our biggest barrier will be access to robots. It will take time to grow because of the uniqueness of the platform. In November 2025, we plan to launch one robot in California. We plan to place 30 robots by the middle of 2026.
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Carolyn LaWell is ORTHOWORLD's Chief Content Officer. She joined ORTHOWORLD in 2012 to oversee its editorial and industry education. She previously served in editor roles at B2B magazines and newspapers.
