Intelligent Haptronic Solutions
Intelligent Haptronic Solutions (IHS) is an emerging robotics technology startup, focused on developing best-in-class virtual reality (VR)-based simulation platforms with integrated touch feedback for realistic and anatomically accurate medical applications. Founded by a team of industry-leading researchers and engineers, and built on strong clinical and institutional partnerships, they strive to provide advanced haptics, VR, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud technology simulation solutions to complex training environments.
Their mission? Keeping clinicians and patients at their core, IHS is revolutionizing the delivery of medical education and surgical training to enable safe, high-quality patient care.
Traction
To date, IHS has successfully prototyped two generations of the digestive endoscopy simulator demo device, which can support basic endoscopy training modules. The company has expanded its partnerships with 11 high profile hospitals and medical schools in China, with plans to collaborate on the clinical validation of the endoscopy simulator. The alpha production prototype is expected to be finalized within the next 6 months and delivered to partner hospitals.
Here in Vancouver, IHS is in the process of establishing additional academic and industry partnerships for clinical validation and entry into the North American market.
Team
The interdisciplinary team at IHS is comprised of industry experts, researchers, and clinicians who are passionate about improving the medical space and empowering healthcare professionals. Bolstered by strong international clinical and academic collaboration, the IHS team embodies the quality and innovation behind their products.
Zhouming Tang
– Founder, CEO & CTO. Zhouming obtained his Master of Applied Sciences from Simon Fraser University, where he developed deep expertise in the fields of medical robotics and haptics. He has authored numerous research publications in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journals and conferences, and holds a U.S. patent for a 7 degrees of freedom haptic device designed for surgical training applications. Prior to founding Intelligent Haptronic Solutions, Zhouming was Senior Silicon Architecture Verification Engineer at Microsemi and has over 6 years system design and validation experience in the Silicons industry.
Hill Xu
– Lead Product Engineer. Hill specializes in database development and administration. Previously, he held the position of Senior IT Specialist at IBM Corporation before joining the Intelligent Haptronic Solutions. Hill obtained his Bachelor of Information Management and Information Systems from Jilin University, China.
Peter Holubowicz
– Senior Product Development Engineer. Peter is a skilled Software Developer with over 20 years of professional experience, including his previous role as Technical Director at Big Sandwich Games, a company he co-founded. Peter is a generalist specializing in machine vision, game engine development, special effects, game physics, low level networking, and authoritative server architecture. He has a Bachelor of Computer Sciences from Simon Fraser University.
Connie Yang
– Marketing Specialist and User Researcher. Connie is a skilled professional with years of experience working in scientific marketing at a major Canadian biotechnology company and in health systems research at a public health organization. She holds a Master of Biomedical Technology from the University of Calgary.
Dr. Bo Jiang
– Medical Consultant. Dr. Jiang is the Director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital and Chief of the Digestive Disease Center. He is a nationally renowned medical expert in gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy operations, having worked significantly with surgical simulators in practical clinical training.
Dr. Shahram Payandeh
– Technical Consultant. Dr. Payandeh is a well-known and respected professor at Simon Fraser University. His research interests include medical robotics, haptics, computer vision, and virtual reality. He holds multiple U.S. patents and has authored a number of journal publications in the field.
Funding
IHS is looking to secure additional funding to progress the alpha release prototype of their digestive endoscopy simulator towards mass production. The capital will also cover the remaining research and development activities, implementation of the upcoming clinical user study, and initiation of the simulation-based endoscopy training curriculum development. The company will also need to invest in its marketing activities and expand product penetration in the Canadian and Chinese market.
Since its inception, IHS has closed seed funds and secured over $1.5 million in venture capital funding with additional government grants to jumpstart the company’s growth. With protected intellectual property and a functioning prototype for their first commercial product, the digestive endoscopy simulator, they are on track to roll out testing in partner hospitals and educational institutions. IHS is in the process of acquiring angel funds and looking ahead to Pre Series-A funding in the upcoming year.
Revenue Model
IHS will target hospitals, medical schools, and surgical training centers for its digestive endoscopy simulator. The company’s B2B sales strategy will be based on customer type and need, offering the following training packages:
- Standard VR training curriculum with simulator
- Custom VR training curriculum with simulator
- Subscription-based VR training software license
- Simulator device training
The company’s secondary B2C strategy will target residents and trainees, practicing physicians, and other healthcare professionals who require routine endoscopy training or competency assessments. This business model will be a subscription-based access to IHS’ cloud platform, which hosts learner and expert data.
Details
To learn more about IHS, visit: intelligent-haptronic-solutions.com and stay up to date with the latest activities on LinkedIn.
