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s an interaction designer at Intuitive Surgical Inc., a company in Silicon Valley that develops robotic-assisted technologies, Sophia Hannaford ’10 is working with a team of people developing the next generation of surgical robot. At present, the most advanced surgical robot is the 4th generation da Vinci Xi® system. Sophia is working on the 5th generation.
Sophia Hannaford ’10
Interaction Designer, Intuitive Surgical
“With this 5th generation, we are making the robot friendly and approachable,” says Sophia. “Our goal is to enable caregivers to focus on what matters: caring for the patient, not running a machine. We want it to be intuitive; we want to make things seamless.” The da Vinci Xi® enables superhuman capabilities, allowing surgeons to turn on x-ray vision and perform intricate and complicated procedures with extreme precision. But these capabilities are less effective if the surgeon gets tangled up in the robotic arms or has to pause to reposition the machine. “We do not want the user to get bogged down in the mechanics of the machine,” explains Sophia. “For example, the robot that performs laparoscopic surgery has a lot of joints, and it’s ideal when the surgeon can push one button and have the robot put all its joints in the right position.” Sophia’s role is unique in that she is constantly thinking of hardware as it relates to software. “We have to think through all these workflows: what task does the surgeon need to set up so surgery is seamless? How can we slim down the steps involved?”
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