New laser vision system for robotic surgery aims to make operations safer and more precise

The VILAROQ project has developed a next-generation imaging system for the IZAR surgical robot that improves accuracy, shortens surgery time, and reduces complications in complex procedures such as spinal surgery.

The consortium is formed by Spanish companies Deneb Medical and Zepren, together with the technology center Tekniker and the cluster secpho.

The project has received financial support from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism under its program for Innovative Business Groups (AEI).

Spinal pathology will affect up to 80% of the population in Spain at least once in their lifetime and entails annual costs of up to 6 billion euros. Moreover, spinal surgeries are complex and involve a complication rate higher than 15% globally (including infections, bleeding, or wound dehiscence), increasing morbidity, hospital stays, and healthcare costs. Added to this is the expected rise in oncological surgeries: 28 million new cancer cases per year worldwide by 2040, and 341,000 in Spain, which foresees more high-precision procedures.

In this context, the healthcare system needs more predictable and standardized procedures, as well as tools that improve real-time accuracy and visualization to prevent injuries to vessels, the spinal cord, or nerve roots. Today, many advanced vision systems in robotic surgery are limited by measurement depth, sensitivity, and imaging speed, and they also depend on single-source suppliers (such as the reference commercial OCT), which hinders performance and industrial autonomy. The VILAROQ project was created to overcome these technical barriers and reduce supply chain dependency.

The objective of this R&D project is to develop a proprietary OCT system with optimized resolution, sensitivity, and measurement depth, designed to be integrated into Deneb’s surgical robot. These improvements in the vision system will enhance the current capabilities of the platform, which is key to successfully tackling complex spinal procedures.

VILAROQ has developed a laser vision system based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) with a “swept source” architecture. Compared to traditional architectures, this topology enables greater depth, higher sensitivity, and faster imaging.

The system developed by VILAROQ has been integrated into IZAR, the surgical platform developed by the Basque company Deneb, which is capable of performing precision laser surgery. Preclinical validations carried out with IZAR have shown improvements in standardization and surgical times, with complex procedures executed more efficiently. Therefore, VILAROQ aims to further increase precision and consistency by equipping the system with its own advanced vision capability.

The consortium behind the project has been led by Deneb Medical, responsible for the optical hardware and integrated validation in the robot. Zepren was in charge of signal processing and real-time image reconstruction. Tekniker developed the functional integration software with the robot, while secpho managed coordination as well as communication and dissemination of results, bringing the value chain closer to this technology. In addition, the project received financial support from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism under its program for Innovative Business Groups (AEI).