SS Innovations CEO Dr. Sudhir Srivastava says he hopes his medical device company will have a functional, flying surgical robot sometime in mid-2026.
A concept design illustration of SS Innovation’s Vimana Aero drone [Illustration courtesy of SS Innovations]
In a Medical Design & Outsourcing interview with Editor in Chief Chris Newmarker, Srivastava said the Indian Army approached SS Innovations with a predicament. Hemorrhage is the leading cause of death among soldiers because the wounded couldn’t be evacuated out of war zones quickly enough.
Inspired by U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research in the 1980s, Srivastava developed a concept design that combined SS Innovation’s technology and teleconnectivity, which could minimize the time between the point of injury and medical care.
The drone is just one of the “crazy, disruptive ideas” from SS Innovations to further expand access to telerobotic-assisted care, Srivastava said.
“I think the minute, as a philosophy, you become static, you are on a downhill course,” he said. “So, science must progress.”
SS Innovations launched SSi Mantra surgical robotic system in 2021 and has since introduced two new generations, including the SSi Mantra 3, which the company recently submitted to the FDA for 510(k) clearance.
Srivastava said more than 200 systems have been installed, and almost 11,000 surgeries have been performed, including 20 long-distance cardiac telesurgeries. SSi Mantra has earned regulatory approval in 14 countries.
The Mantra system’s telesurgical capabilities have shown low latency, Srivastava said, giving the company confidence that its technology could operate “anywhere.”
“Our focus is to really change the direction of surgery for as many patients as possible around the world,” he said. “The technology is available. All these things can be done.”
SS Innovations founder and CEO Dr. Sudhir Srivastava performs a remote procedure using the Mantra 3 system. [Photo courtesy of SS Innovations]
SS Innovation’s Vimana Aero drone, in its conceptual stage, consists of a heavy-lift autonomous drone and a detachable unit with two miniature robotic arms with seven degrees of freedom and 5 mm surgical instruments.
In its current design, the completely remote-controlled drone will land near the patient to deploy the detachable unit to let a surgeon remotely address hemorrhaging, wound repair, chest decompression, shrapnel extraction and field suturing to help stabilize patients until evacuation teams arrive.
“We have flown it around [as a demonstration of concept but] it’s not functional yet,” he said in our May interview. “I’m hoping our team works very fast, and in two months we will actually have a functional unit.”
The main challenges are payload and battery life, “and both are solvable,” Srivastava said.
“It comes down to the size of the drone in terms of flying distance or how long can you be in the air, and also payload,” he said, “so smaller robotic arms that we can produce … and 3D vision, which is not a problem at all. It’s available.”
Another challenge is the landing site.
“[When] the drones land, they will raise dust,” Srivastava said. “The way we are looking at the model where we will have a detachable underneath attached to it, so the drone can land itself somewhere away from where the soldier is, so we don’t contaminate further.”
A concept design illustration of the SS Innovations Avtara humanoid [Illustration courtesy of SS Innovations]
The team is also looking into developing small operating areas away from active war zones or on army bases that could house robotic surgery systems to care for evacuated soldiers.
“Essentially, surgeons can [remotely] repair whatever needs to be done,” Srivastava said. “It’s mostly a bailout option just to save their life. Then you have that person airlifted and brought to these bases where you still have a robotic system to be able to provide that care.”
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Srivastava envisions the Vimana Aero drone to be helpful beyond the battlefield and bring life-saving emergency care to areas where it’s inaccessible.
“Sometimes natural disasters occur, and people cannot get there: earthquakes or floods, landslides, etc.,” Srivastava said. “This technology can really be helpful, and it will have a real application. … I hope we can invest more money in saving people rather than killing each other.”
This illustration depicts the conceptual design of SS Innovation’s Operion mobile operating room. [Illustration courtesy of SS Innovations]
The truck could help improve surgical care worldwide, Srivastava said.
“Almost 65% of the population in India lives in smaller communities or rural areas, and they just don’t get the access,” he said. “That problem exists everywhere. I think this can become a model.”
Check out DeviceTalks Editorial Director Tom Salemi’s DeviceTalks Weekly interview with Srivastava’s son, SS Innovations APAC CEO Dr. Vishwa Srivastava:
