Minimally invasive spine
Endius
Rapid IP Generation
No foam. No modeling. No CAD. No prototypes. Just reams and reams of sketches, ideas that would ultimately become a dossier of patentable intellectual property the client would sell to the orthopaedic giant from whence they’d come. The client worked with Humanfactors to develop an almost stream-of-consciousness barrage of ideas focused on minimally invasive spinal surgery.
Too often, minimally invasive surgery translates into surgical confinement. To give the surgeon more freedom of movement, Humanfactors developed an adjustable trocar that expands inside the body to encompass a larger work zone, all of which may be inserted through a minimal incision. Once the trocar is secured, a vacuum-assisted support arm registers its position and locks into place. Like a multitasking third arm, this support is fully articulated, offers limitless angles for optimum line of sight, and provides the surgeon with a steady work template with 360º access to the trocar opening.
Surgical Observation
Humanfactors went into the OR and studied video of a variety of MIS procedures, paying particular attention to the advantages and challenges of using a trocar.
Concept Ideation
We leveraged our orthopaedic experience, along with the MIS surgical procedures we observed and documented, to develop a diversity of instrumentation. Indexable trocar attachments, multi-material trocars, a Swiss-Army-knife version of instrumentation armature - every design and engineering whim was encouraged for development and evaluation, as this near parameter-free process led to unexpected innovations.
Product Development
From surgical observation to ideation to Intellectual property sale, this was an intense exercise in rapid concept development.
