Dr. Alireza Mirbagheri, CEO of Sina Robotics and medical Innovators Co., Ltd., announced that after three years of rigorous standard tests and preclinical studies, the Sina flex Robotic Telesurgery System has obtained approval for clinical trials from the Iran FDA. The journey, which began twenty years ago at the Advanced Medical Technologies and Equipment Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, has led to the development and localization of robotic surgical technology within the country, surpassing other competitors with innovative concepts. In the second decade, multiple prototypes have been created and subjected to technical tests in reference laboratories for medical equipment. Preclinical studies have been conducted in both Iran and Indonesia, and the system is now ready for clinical trials. For the first time, the Sina Robotic Telesurgery system will be physically installed and available for observation and evaluation at the 16th Congress of the Iranian Coloproctology Association, held at the National Library Conference Center in Tehran from February 21st to 23th, 2024. Dr. Mirbagheri also expresses his gratitude to esteemed colleagues in the Iranian Coloproctology Association. He added, “we hope that the advantages of this national technology will quickly benefit surgeons and patients, and that we witness its further flourishing in our beloved country, Iran”. Sina flex is a robotic telesurgery system which can be used for performing abdominal, chest and pelvic cavity surgery operations in an ergonomic posture for surgeon and also remotely through internet or other communication channels. This system has two main subsystems: Surgical console at the surgeon’s side: This console which is available to the surgeon, provides a real-time image of the surgical site to the surgeon and at the same time receives the movement data of the surgeon’s hands, fingers and feet and sends them to the surgical robots using tremor reduction and scaling functions. Surgical bed, surgical and cameraman robots at the patient’s side: This set is located on the patient’s site and promptly and accurately performs the surgeon’s commands that received from the surgical console. This system is able to perform the most complex surgeries in the depths of the abdominal cavity only through two or three incisions of five millimeters and one incision of ten millimeters. Unlike laparoscopic surgery, in this method there are no movement restrictions in the surgeon’s wrists and fingers, and the movements of the surgeon’s hands are not reversed. Additionally, Sina adds the ability to bend the wrist 180 degrees in all directions and unlimited local rotation, beyond the natural capabilities of the surgeon’s hands, to the surgical process. So, the advantages of using this technology for surgery which have been widely proved up to know are:

• Less trauma, bleeding, complications and hospital stay for patients specially in advanced and complicated surgeries.

• Neutral and ergonomic posture for surgeon during surgery which may be in remote places to avoid harmful environment of operating room (HIV, Hepatitis C, COVID-19, CO2, Anesthesia gas, X-ray radiation,…).

• Movement scaling and tremor reduction to increase the accuracy of the surgery. The Sina flex special advantages are:

• 5 mm, disposable and flexible instruments with bending ability to all directions and unlimited rotation.

• Availability of both sitting and standing posture for surgeon during surgery with more ergonomic parameters.

• High configuration flexibility for surgery robot placements at both sides of surgery bed.

• Availability of non-interruptive docking and reorienting of the patient and surgical bed during surgery, a critical feature in the majority of general surgeries.

• Force sensing capability and visual haptic feedback from the slave side to the master side.

• Selectable handles for surgeon’s side for each special task and comfortless of surgeons.

• Low initial, maintenance and consumable cost to popularization of this technology in most applications.