In the early 1990s, the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) developed a prototype that caught the attention of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA). DARPA thought the technology would be a welcome tool to perform remote surgeries on soldiers wounded on the battlefield.
Dr. Frederick Moll, a surgeon, had non-military applications in mind when he first saw the surgical robotic system in 1994. He became acquainted with venture capitalist John Freund a year later. Freund was able to negotiate a technology license for SRI’s robotic surgical system. Together with engineer Robert Younge, Dr. Moll and Freund began their enterprise to improve minimally invasive surgery—Intuitive Surgical.
The now renowned da Vinci surgical system was commercialized in 1999 in Europe, and a year later came to the U.S. In June 2000, Intuitive went public with a $46 million initial public offering. The company was immediately sued for patent infringement in August 2000 by close competitor Computer Motion, an early entrant to the market with its ZEUS robotic surgical system. (Intuitive acquired Computer Motion in 2003.)
TT Electronics plc (LON:TTG) is a provider of engineered electronics applications for performance-critical applications. The Company works with customers in the industrial, medical, aerospace and defence, and transportation sectors.
