WSI Signs MOU with Chinese Carbon Medical for Joint Development of AI Medical Robots

WSI announced on the 27th that its subsidiary Easy Medi Bot has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Carbon Medical Device, based in Shenzhen, China, for the joint development of intelligent medical robots.

Photo commemorating the signing of the MOU between Carbon Medical and Easy Medi Bot Provided by WSI

Carbon Medical Device is a Chinese bio-venture company founded in 2018 by four co-founders, including engineers from SIEMENS' U.S. research institute. The co-founders are experts from global companies and prestigious universities such as Siemens Healthcare, Drexel University, Johns Hopkins University, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology.

The main points of this MOU include △ integrating Carbon Medical Device’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology into Easy Medi Bot’s U-BOT and neurosurgery and cardiovascular medical robots currently under development and jointly developing them △ sharing WSI’s clinical and development know-how in the spinal joint field △ cooperating on sales of Carbon Medical Device’s products within Korea.

Carbon Medical Device’s flagship product, "Venus," is an AI-based intelligent magnetic navigation system and multimodal fusion medical ultrasound system. It is a surgical system trained on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) data from over 8,000 patients and is used for prostate cancer biopsy and diagnosis. It has been used in more than 600 hospitals worldwide for over 8,000 surgeries and has been undergoing approval processes for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European CE certification since last year.

According to company officials, existing equipment lacks AI functions based on deep learning and clinical data and only provides simple ultrasound-centered data that cannot be delivered in real time. As a result, even experts skilled in data analysis and image matching take an average of 15 to 20 minutes for diagnosis, whereas the Venus product can deep-learn imaging records within one minute and provide them in real time.

A WSI representative stated, "Through this collaboration, we plan to integrate Carbon Medical Device’s AI and navigation technology into U-BOT and the neurosurgery and spinal surgery robots scheduled for subsequent development," adding, "This will enhance the added value of medical robots and provide a higher level of surgical environment for patients and medical staff."

Meanwhile, WSI is actively expanding its medical robot business based on its medical device and pharmaceutical distribution operations. It has signed an MOU with Doosan Robotics and aims to launch the brain surgery robots B-BOT and E-BOT in 2026, and the cardiovascular robot C-BOT in 2028.