AI-powered robotics system will increase access to diagnostic imaging, improving patient care

Robotics company Cobionix raises a $2.8 million seed round to deploy its commercial robotics system Codi Robotics company Cobionix has raised a $2.8 million seed round to deploy its commercial robotics system Codi, an industry-first tele-robotic medical imaging tool. The company, which is part of the University of Waterloo's Velocity incubator, hopes that Codi will increase access to diagnostic imaging services and save healthcare costs by reducing procedure time, ultimately improving patient care. "The healthcare field is suffering from a major skilled labour shortage, and we are very excited to help alleviate this problem with autonomous robotic technology that will result in decreased wait times, lower procedure costs and directly improve patient care," said Dr. Tim Lasswell MD, co-founder of Cobionix. CEO Nima Zamani said the company's goal is to combine state-of-the-art robotic hardware with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to create a seamless robot to human interaction without the user needing high knowledge of engineering or coding.  "One of the motivations for that demonstration was seeing the impact of labour shortages during the pandemic," Zamani said. "And in Canada right now it can be hard to get expedient medical care for critical procedures, like ultrasound, for which there are long wait times and that's something [Cobionix] wants to fix." Codi is not a humanoid robot. It can't walk around, nor do backflips. What it can do far surpasses the image of a flashy robot that has gained foothold in the public consciousness.