ARMSTRONG Healthcare has become a world leader in medical robotics, just seven years after it was founded.>

Robotic camera gives surgeons a third hand

Picture shows consultant surgeon Jonathan Gilbert FRCS uses the Endo Assist machine in a clinical audit carried out at Wexham Park Hospital

ARMSTRONG Healthcare has become a world leader in medical robotics, just seven years after it was founded.

Now the company in Spring Gardens Road, High Wycombe, has turned to Business Link Thames Valley for advice to expand its growing export market.

Armstrong has developed a robotic camera, used in keyhole surgery, which surgeons control with their own head movement while carrying out operations.

The view from the camera is displayed on a TV, which the surgeon uses to see the operating site.

A major advantage of the machine, known as Endo Assist, is that it acts as a third hand, and frees up medical assistants to carry out other work.

Armstrong first contacted Business Link when it wanted access to a top-class industrial designer. With its help Armstrong Healthcare finally chose Michael Ayre & Co of Lockinge, West Berkshire.

"I was so pleased with the help we were given that I am now consulting Business Link on the development of an export market for our product," said Dr Patrick Finlay, who founded the firm.

He added that Business Link is also advising on how to apply for available grants.

An Armstrong Healthcare machine is already in use at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and attracted a great deal of interest at a major exhibition in Germany last year. The company also has demonstration systems in Toronto and Beirut.

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