Olympus recently announced that its EndoEye Flex 3D and its FlexDex Needle Driver have been named a finalist in this year’s Edison Awards.
The Edison Awards recognize innovation, creativity and ingenuity in today’s global economy.
“Olympus is creating value by offering a cost alternative to robotic surgery through its innovative combination of EndoEye Flex 3D imaging technology with the intuitive control of the FlexDex Needle Driver, which together are redefining minimal access surgery,” Randy Clark, president of the medical systems group at Olympus Americas, said in a press release. “This prestigious award program recognizes innovative and game-changing products that are destined to make an impact throughout the world. We are honored to be named an Edison Awards finalist.”
Using 3D imaging from Olympus and FlexDex technology, doctors are able to place sutures in hard-to-reach areas. The EndoEye Flex 3D, developed by Olympus’s FlexDex, is a video laparoscope that allows for the natural 3D vision and depth perception of open surgery while FlexDex can translate the surgeon’s hand, wrist and arm movements into movements of an end-effector inside of a patient’s body.
Olympus suggests that the FlexDex platform could be an alternative to high-cost robotics in minimal access surgery. It provides the visualization and wrested instrumentation needed for suturing and can be used in any operating room on a laparoscopic platform that surgeons are already familiar with.
All Edison Award nominees are reviewed by the Edison Awards Steering Committee. The final ballot is then sent to an independent judging panel with more than 3,000 professionals from the product development, design, engineering, science, marketing and education fields.
The award ceremony will take place in New York on April 4.
