Revolutionizing Medical Device Testing: How 6-Axis Robotic Arms Are Changing Our Industry

After a decade in medical device development and bringing over 150 projects to life, I'm excited to share one of our most transformative investments: integrating 6-axis robotic arms into our testing and development workflow. This isn't just about having fancy equipment – it's about fundamentally changing how we validate medical devices and prepare our team for the future of healthcare technology.

Why We're Embracing Robotics Now

When we first considered purchasing a robotic arm, many questioned whether this was a necessary investment. After all, we've successfully developed products for years using traditional methods. But looking at where healthcare technology is heading, the answer became increasingly clear.

The world of medical devices is evolving rapidly. Surgical robotics, precision medicine, and automated diagnostic tools are becoming mainstream. As a design and engineering company responsible for creating the next generation of life-critical devices, we need to understand robotics not just as users but as creators and implementers.

Our primary goals were twofold:

1. Building internal expertise. Ensuring our team understands robotic systems, their capabilities, limitations, and how to program them effectively.
2. Creating unique testing capabilities. Developing testing methods that outperform traditional human testing in consistency, precision, and duration.

The Unmatched Precision of Robotic Testing

One of the most impressive specifications of our robotic arm is its positioning accuracy – 20 microns. To put this in perspective, a human hair is approximately 70 microns thick. This means our robot can return to an exact position with a precision nearly four times finer than the width of a human hair.

This level of precision opens new possibilities for testing devices where exact positioning matters:

• Microsurgical tools: Testing tools designed for exceptionally delicate procedures
• Precision dosing systems: Validating the accuracy of drug delivery systems
• Cell manipulation devices: Testing equipment designed to work at near-microscopic scales

No human tester, no matter how skilled, can achieve this level of repeatability. When a patient's outcome depends on sub-millimeter precision, having testing equipment that operates at this level isn't a luxury – it's a necessity.

Real-World Applications That Have Already Paid Off

Endurance Testing for Medical Interfaces

One of our first successful implementations involved a medical device with a touchscreen interface. The client needed validation that the interface would remain responsive after thousands of interactions.

Previously, this would have required:

• Hiring multiple testers working in shifts
• Accepting significant variability in how tests were conducted
• Dealing with human errors in recording results
• Limited testing time due to fatigue and cost

Our solution was to program the robotic arm with a capacitive stylus to interact with the device exactly as a healthcare professional would. We set up various interaction patterns – entering different menus, adjusting settings, and performing common tasks that would be expected in a clinical environment.

The robot ran these tests continuously for days, completing in one week what would have taken over a month with human testers. More importantly, each interaction was performed identically, creating truly comparable data points across thousands of repetitions.

Precision Dosing Validation

Another breakthrough came when working with a client developing a high-precision syringe system. They needed to collect data on dosing accuracy across thousands of samples.

Human testers would inevitably introduce variability – slight differences in how they handled the syringe, inconsistent pressure application, and fatigue affecting later samples. These variables could mask actual product performance issues or create false positives for problems that didn't exist.

By programming our robotic arm to handle the syringe with exact, repeatable movements, we created a testing environment that isolated the performance of the device itself. The data collected was considerably cleaner, allowing our client to identify subtle design improvements that might otherwise have been missed in the noise of human testing variability.

Beyond Testing: Prototyping Surgical Techniques

Perhaps the most exciting application has been in the field of robotic surgery. Several clients have approached us with ideas for new surgical techniques that would be impossible for human hands to perform consistently.

Using our robotic arm, we've been able to:

1. Program extremely precise movements to manipulate tissue samples
2. Test suturing patterns that require sub-millimeter accuracy
3. Validate concepts for microsurgical procedures
4. Develop algorithms that could later be transferred to specialized surgical robots

This capability has transformed our relationship with surgical device developers. Instead of just creating passive instruments, we can now help design and validate the actual techniques those instruments will enable. This closed-loop development process has already led to several breakthrough designs that would have been much harder to validate without robotic assistance.

The Economic Equation of Robotic Testing

Let's address the practical question: does robotic testing make financial sense?

On the surface, it might seem expensive. High-quality robotic arms require significant investment, and skilled programmers command premium salaries. However, the economic equation becomes compelling when you consider:

Time compression: What takes a month with human testers can often be completed in a week with continuous robotic testing. For startups burning through capital, accelerating time-to-market by several weeks per development cycle can mean survival.

Reduced variability: Clean, consistent data means fewer false starts and redesigns. We've seen projects avoid entire development cycles because problems were identified clearly and early.

Higher quality insights: The precision of robotic testing often reveals subtle issues that human testers would miss. Addressing these issues before production can save millions in recalls or field corrections.

A concrete example: For one client developing a critical care device, our robotic testing identified a rare but significant failure mode that occurred approximately once every 5,000 operations. Human testing had completely missed this due to limited sample size. Catching this pre-market likely saved our client from a Class I recall, which would have cost millions and damaged their reputation permanently.

Challenges We've Overcome

Implementing robotic testing hasn't been without challenges. Some of the obstacles we've navigated include:

Skill development: Programming precision robotics requires specialized knowledge. We've invested significantly in training our team and recruiting individuals with robotics backgrounds.

Test design complexity: Creating tests that truly mimic human interactions while leveraging robotic precision is a new art form. Early attempts sometimes tested the wrong things or created unrealistic usage patterns.

Client education: Many clients initially resist robotic testing, believing human testing is more "realistic." We've had to demonstrate how robotic consistency actually provides more reliable data about their devices.

Integration with regulatory processes: The FDA and other regulatory bodies are still developing their perspectives on robotic testing validation. We've worked closely with regulatory consultants to ensure our methods support rather than complicate the approval process.

The Future: Augmented Reality Integration

Our next frontier is integrating our robotic testing capabilities with augmented reality technologies. We're in the process of acquiring AR glasses and potentially VR headsets to explore new testing paradigms.

Imagine being able to:

• Visualize invisible data like force curves or temperature gradients directly overlaid on physical devices during robotic testing
• Create virtual interfaces that the robot interacts with, allowing rapid iteration of UI designs before final hardware is available
• Develop training programs where healthcare professionals can see exactly how a device should be manipulated for optimal performance

These technologies, combined with our robotic capabilities, will create entirely new ways to validate and improve medical devices before they ever reach patients.

Practical Advice for Teams Considering Robotic Testing

If you're considering implementing robotic testing in your own development process, here are some lessons we've learned:

1. Start with clearly defined, high-value test cases: Complex endurance tests or precision-dependent validations provide the clearest ROI.
2. Budget for programming time: The robot itself is only part of the investment. The time to program and validate test routines often exceeds the cost of the hardware.
3. Create a physical testing environment that maximizes robot capabilities: Ensure fixtures, work surfaces, and environmental controls are designed to maintain the precision your robot can achieve.
4. Document everything meticulously: The value of robotic testing for regulatory submissions increases dramatically when you can demonstrate exactly how tests were conducted.
5. Don't automate everything at once: Human testing still has its place, especially for subjective qualities like ergonomics or for discovering unexpected usage patterns.

In the competitive medical device industry, companies that embrace advanced testing methodologies gain significant advantages. Our investment in robotic testing capabilities has already paid for itself multiple times over through faster development cycles, more reliable products, and the ability to validate designs that would be impossible to test consistently by hand.

For medical device developers looking to stay competitive in an increasingly precise and regulated industry, robotic testing isn't just an option – it's becoming a necessity. The companies that master this approach will develop better products, get them to market faster, and establish new standards for reliability that others will struggle to match.

At OVA Solutions , we're committed to being at the forefront of this evolution, helping our clients leverage these technologies to create medical devices that push the boundaries of what's possible while never compromising on safety or effectiveness.

Lisa Voronkova leads OVA Solutions , a team of 59 specialists who have successfully brought over 150 medical device projects to life. With offices in New York, Tallinn, and Dnipro, the company focuses exclusively on meaningful projects that advance healthcare technology.