Impact
Precision Motion Control for Improved Patient Care
Once considered a futuristic concept, robot-assisted surgery is making the “impossible” more routine. Surgeons can now perform life-saving remote surgery on patients from thousands of miles away. In addition, minimally invasive, highly precise robotic surgery has been found to significantly reduce post-surgery complications.
Automation is transforming the medical industry, helping human healthcare workers improve patient comfort, care and outcomes. CGI Inc., a part of the Timken industrial motion portfolio, innovates gear solutions and process technologies that drive precision and efficiency in robot-assisted surgeries, elevating patient wellness and longevity worldwide.
“Our customers are creating solutions never seen before. They view us as an extension of their in-house R&D and engineering capabilities, relying on us to solve problems as early as possible in the design process.”
Tim Pirie
Chief Technology Officer, CGI Inc
Future-defining Medical Innovation
A high-tech market still in its infancy, surgical robots are taking their first steps toward transforming patient care at scale. Today, more than 14 million robot-assisted surgeries are performed annually, up from three million in 2017.
That growth and innovation has been 25 years in the making. According to Tim Pirie, chief technology officer at CGI Inc, surgical robotics systems have long development cycles due to their complex designs, advanced precision requirements and highly regulated medical environment.
“Our customers are creating solutions never seen before,” said Pirie. “They view us as an extension of their in-house R&D and engineering capabilities, relying on us to solve problems as early as possible in the design process.”
CGI precision gear drive solutions are used in surgical robots to enable traction and accurate positioning. Surgeons use controls to manipulate the robotic arms that can perform a heart valve repair, remove an appendix or treat cancer. Some systems feature one robotic arm for single-incision surgeries; more sophisticated systems use up to four arms to handle the most challenging procedures and offer greater flexibility in the operating room.
Many of these surgical platforms consist of multiple sub-systems and CGI solutions are not confined to one but rather support several of them.
CGI technical expertise also advances medical innovation beyond surgery. In support of diagnostics, CGI influences the design of robotic bronchoscopies that enable earlier lung cancer detection and automated laboratory testing equipment that identify disease. Some of the smallest CGI precision gear drives help artificial hearts automatically pump blood for patients living with advanced heart failure.
The technology for these applications is continually evolving, and CGI-driven equipment is the foundation on which the next generation of medical automation is currently being built.
Legacy of Customer-centric R&D
Founded by engineers in 1967 as California Gear and Instrument, CGI initially helped aerospace and medical device industries innovate for many technical “firsts.”
With design influence dating back to NASA’s Apollo missions, CGI engineered a custom precision gear drive for the hand tool astronauts used to complete the Hubble Space Telescope’s first servicing mission in 1993. The tool is still in service today aboard the International Space Station.
This aerospace expertise translated well to the fledgling medical devices market. In the 1970s, the first successful knee replacement procedures were performed using CGI-equipped orthopedic surgery tools.
“Working with bone creates tough challenges, and our surgical tool customers needed gear drives that could create more torque to perform flawlessly,” Pirie said. “We were one of the few with that expertise.”
Pirie added that there are parallels between early orthopedics and today’s medical automation market. “There are only a handful of companies and engineers on the cutting edge because it’s so new,” he said. “Customers know we can support them because we’ve helped solve modern medicine’s greatest technical challenges since the beginning.”
One of the first surgical robotics innovators approached CGI after experiencing the failure of off-the-shelf gears in 80% of its early robots. CGI’s R&D and technical experts quickly customized a new solution to address the performance issue and get the robot platform back into production. Soon, the same customer asked CGI experts to develop a custom solution that would correct a backlash issue it had with a competitor’s standard gear drives.
Credit: NASA Goddard
Today, CGI’s R&D and engineering experts are involved in the beginning of that customer’s design cycle. Early collaboration leads to more integrated precision gearing solutions that improve efficiency for both the equipment and the customer’s internal processes.
The result is more rapid innovation that is quickly expanding patient access to medical care supported by automation. More and more diagnostic tests are becoming automated to manage higher volumes. And robotics, once limited to specific procedures, are being adopted for general surgery to treat a broader range of conditions.
Pirie added: “It’s mind blowing to think about the complexity it took to get here and what will be possible in the future. It’s exciting to be a part of the innovation.”
Published: 2025/02/12
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Material Science to Manufacturing
Unique in the medical gear drives market, CGI experts have deep knowledge in every aspect of the technical value chain, from metallurgy and novel surface coatings to production processes like precision gearing, laser welding and precision grinding. Advancements in those areas have been driven by evolving customer and patient needs.
CGI was one of the first companies to apply diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings to gear teeth in fine pitch precision gear drives for the medical industry. These extremely hard nanocomposite coatings help minimize wear in medical applications subjected to high loads, extreme friction and wear, and constant contact with other components. More importantly, they help reduce noise and vibration, which provides a more calming environment for both patients and healthcare workers.
“Compared to other materials like hard chrome, DLC coatings are very thin and can be applied without impacting overall gear drive performance,” Pirie said. “We apply it to tens of thousands of products annually.”
Before production, DLC coatings are often applied to customer prototypes built in-house for customer testing. CGI’s prototype shop is where the design expertise of its engineers meets the manufacturing know-how of its production team.
CGI is known for its capabilities in manufacturing for tight tolerances, whether for gear solutions or related components like precision shafts used in orthopedic instruments and medical imaging equipment.
Innovation across the company’s processes offers two additional advantages: high levels of quality and greater control of scheduling. From raw material selection to final product inspection, CGI solutions all go through a consistent Quality Management System that provides robotics designers with a high level of confidence and patients with a high level of care. Managing it all internally equates to shorter lead times that support customers’ aggressive schedules to outfit more hospitals with these life-saving technologies.
“Our customers light up when we talk about niche processes like laser welding that we do ourselves,” Pirie said. “It opens up opportunities for future collaborations.”