Thomas Luyckx, our co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, spoke at the Surgical Robotics Society (SRS) meeting in Hollywood, Florida, about the patellofemoral joint in knee replacement.
The argument
Robotic and navigated systems have made tibiofemoral alignment more precise and more repeatable than it has ever been. The patellofemoral joint has not had the same attention, and it is still a common reason for pain at the front of the knee and for revision.
The talk set out why precision in one joint does not solve the problem on its own. The two joints affect each other, and an implant position that looks ideal on the tibiofemoral side can do something to patellar tracking that only shows up later. Putting numbers on that relationship before surgery is what lets a surgeon weigh one against the other on purpose.
Why this audience
Surgical robotics has spent a decade getting the mechanics right. Accuracy, rigidity, repeatability: that part is largely solved. The question now is where AI fits. A robot can execute a plan to a fraction of a degree and still have no opinion on whether it is the right plan for the patient on the table. An SRS meeting is where that gets argued out.
We come at it from the other end. We start from AI: the models that read the imaging, build the patient-specific model and work out how the two joints interact. The ambition is to move into physical AI, where that understanding reaches the instrument and not just the plan. Saying so in a room full of people who already build the hardware is how the idea gets tested.
Hollywood is also where our US office is, so it was a short commute.
Knee ID is under development. It is not CE marked, has not been cleared by the FDA, and is not available for sale.