Ommo Technologies creates sensor tracking for surgical instrument

The future of the healthcare system lies in the fact of doing more with less. Globally regulatory authorities are demanding the medical fraternity to adopt advanced technologies that will help improve patient safety and operational efficiency.

Whether it is the US regulator, FDA, or EU department of health, there is an emphasis on reducing healthcare expenditure and having an efficient equipment management system. These regulations will be the crucial factor that will drive the market growth for surgical instrument tracking systems, which is said to rise 13.4% per annum to $338 million worth market by 2025. However, high system costs, long investment cycles, and a lack of realization of ROI are some of the obstacles to the growth of this market.

Ommo Technologies has developed a unique solution for the surgical instrument tracking system market. It has created the world’s first permanent magnet-based precision tracking system specially designed to serve the medical market. The technology named ORBIT combines submillimeter precision with unrivaled versatility and scalability to enable applications of the future. The US-origin startup has been the 2020 winner of the K-Startup Grand Challenge, South Korea’s biggest global accelerator program.

Works with submillimeter precision

Ommo Technologies precision tracking system is a single, tiny sensor that can capture position and orientation with submillimeter precision in real-time and in virtually any environment. The sensors can be attached or embedded into any object, which can then be tracked even when they are inside a human body since a magnetic field can safely pass through most materials. The current prototype supports up to 0.75 meters in radius and optimal precision to 0.25mm.

The Unique advantages of the precision tracking system are:

It works like a Radio tower or Broadcasting Signal as it is able to support tracking an unlimited number of sensors.
Outputs individual 6DOF data for each sensor, compared to other systems that require trilateration of multiple sensors.
Resilient against EMI (electromagnetic interference), unlike other EM tracking systems that break down completely.
Requires an order of magnitude less current than even the most power-efficient EM tracking system in the market, allowing all-day operation from a typical smartphone battery.

The startup’s focus is on surgical instrument tracking because of its strong strategic partnership with the global medical equipment sector. The company wants to develop the technology for utilization to fields like augmented/virtual reality cosmetic surgeries, education, robotics, etc.

“Starting with minimally invasive surgeries, we are expanding our applications into areas of simulation, robotics, AR/VR, digital twin, and more,” said Kyul Ko, Co-founder, and COO of Ommo Technologies Inc. “Our products are not yet available publicly, but we launched a pilot program for companies interested in early access to the technology. We are extremely grateful to see a very high level of interest (there is a waiting list, and you’d have to wait 3 to 4 months even if you register right now) from all kinds of industries.”

Winning the top prize at K-Startup Grand Challenge

The startup was founded in 2015 in Texas, USA, and has now spread its reach to the Asian market with participation in the K-Startup Grand Challenge (KSGC) 2020 program in South Korea. KSGC is the leading startup inbound program organized and financed by the Korean government. It is an all-expenses-paid 3.5-month program where startups get to reach out to potential investors, network, and expand business in South Korea and the Asian market.

Ommo Technologies was selected to be part of the program in 2020, and despite COVID-19 restrictions, the company got to spend considerable time in Korea. Ommo Technologies won the grand prize at the KSGC 2020 program out of 2,648 companies that had applied and got a cash prize worth $120,000.

Kyul Ko, who was part of the program, talks about his experience, “KSGC helped pave the way for me to reach out to potential investors and partners. In addition to not having much of a network in Korea, COVID-19 countermeasures made it extremely difficult to get in touch with the decision-makers. KSGC had organized itself into 5 different batches, each supervised by a dedicated VC to aid us, almost like a small accelerator. I was under the supervision of Big Bang Angels (BBA), and they helped me set up 50+ meetings throughout the program.”

Since joining the KSGC program in the summer of 2020, Ommo Technologies has $3 million ($5.6M to date) led by Korean investors and named a finalist in the NASA iTech initiative. The company has come a long way after it had unveiled the first look of its breakthrough 6DOF position tracking system ORBIT at the CES 2020. The startup is now looking forward to growing in the demanding surgical instrument tracking market and developing many more advanced tracking systems for various sectors.

The application and promotion of the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2021 have started with the last date for submitting applications being June 15th, 2021.

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