Ever wonder how insects can ‘run’ on the surface of water?

It’s simple: the forces at play on a larger scale—i.e., inertia and weight—are absent at the millimeter scale. Thus, adhesion forces become dominant, transforming water into a cement-like floor under the insects feet.

Those same principles apply to a rice grain-sized robotic system under development by French firm Robeauté. The company aims to perfect a micro machine capable of intervening at the cellular level within the brain to redefine neurosurgical technology.

Robeauté’s microrobot moves in the brain in curved lines with submillimetric precision, providing access to many areas of the brain in multiple locations. The microrobot can gather data and deliver cargos such as micro-electrodes or drugs, paving the way for more efficient emerging neuro therapies.

The company has shared prototypes of its microrobot with various regulatory agencies—including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—to identify potential challenges and adjust their approach to commercialization.

Robeauté will gain more wisdom into potential marketing strategies and business plans thanks to a prize package the company collected last week as winner of the 13th Start-Up Competition at Medica, the world’s largest medical trade show.

More than 250 startups submitted proposals for the competition. The contest’s organizers narrowed that total to 12 finalists chosen by a 10-member jury; the panel chose the top three based on innovation, go-to market strategy, commercial potential, and sustainability.

Coming in second to Robeauté was AGED Diagnostics of Bethesda, Md., which is using genomics to develop an accurate blood test for liver disease. AGED’s tools can differentiate benign from advanced liver disease and simultaneously stage fibrosis (liver scarring). The technology uses a targeted genomic sequencing assessment to measure the concentration of target biomarkers (genetic signatures) in circulation. The presence of such biomarkers past a defined concentration indicates a diagnosis of liver disease and/or fibrosis.

Taking third place was VertifyMed, an Austrian firm developing a mobile vertigo assessment application for iOS and Android. The assessment is achieved through a questionnaire, various eye movement assays (Spontaneous Nystagmus Test with and Without Fixation, Gaze-Evoked Nystagmus Test, Alternating Cover Test, Head Impuse Test, among others), and the Romberg test. Verfy’s diagnosing criteria are based on the official ICVD criteria from the Bárány Society.

The nine other finalists in the Start-Up Competition were:

Healthcare AI

• Bots4you: A German company that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) assistants to automate internal and external business processes. The firm provides cross-industry complete implementation for businesses and offers ongoing support on their path to AI readiness.
• Citadel AI: This Japanese company develops software tools to evaluate, monitor, and improve AI systems and AI-powered SaMD (software as a medical device). Its technology helps organizations minimize AI reliability risks and maximize AI performance from research to deployment.
• U-Care Medical Srl: The core product of this Italian startup is an SaaS AI-based software platform for personalized and preventive management of complications within intensive care units. Integrating with ICUs’ electronic health record systems, the 3-year-old firm—a spinoff of Polytechnic of Turin—leverages the vast clinical data pool to provide data-driven and real-time predictive alerts to clinicians.

Health Apps

• Doctorderma: A telemedicine company based in Hamburg, Germany, that offers dermatological consultations through a digital platform. Patients can receive a diagnosis simply by uploading photos of their skin conditions and a completed questionnaire; the service is available 24/7 from anywhere, including outside Deutschland, and prescriptions are valid throughout the European Union. 
• PharmaTrail AG: This Swiss company provides software solutions for capturing and managing clinical trial data based on Blockchain technology, ensuring accuracy, reliability, traceability, and security for trusted outcomes in pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech studies. Its eConsent platform, for example, allows trial administrators to choose the most appropriate consent method —electronic signature or paper format—on a per participant and Informed Consent Form basis.

Lab Diagnostics

• Dxcover Limited: A Scottish company that develops tests for the early detection of multiple solid tumor cancers. Its Multi-Omic Spectral Analysis uses infrared spectroscopy and AI algothims to examine blood serum for potential malignant cells. Dxcover’s PANAROMIC platform technology has shown promise in spotting Stage I and Stage II tumors in eight solid tumor cancers. Currently, the company is conducting a European study on its brain cancer detection test, and a major U.S. trial on its colorectal cancer/advanced adenoma assay.
• Fepod Oy Ltd.: The technology from this Finnish firm measures real blood concentration from a single drop of blood in just one minute. Minimal equipment is required: Tests are conducted using a standard mobile phone, a small (affordable) device, and mass-producible, disposable test strips. Earlier this year, the company was accepted into the Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange, a curated membership-based program that aims to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative healthcare ideas.

Robotics

• goodBot GmbH: Inventor of a pipetting robot tailored to academic research. With its small footprint and strong focus on user friendliness goodBot streamlines pipetting tasks while fitting into confined spaces. User-friendly software whittles experimental set-up time down to just several minutes, accelerating discoveries and enhancing result reproducibility.
• Robota srl: Aims to automate sterilization processes. The Italian firm’s Robota steR product is billed as the world’s first complete automated sterilization process, from initial product transport to packaging. By voice command, an AGV (automated guided vehicle for handling products within an environment), transfers the instruments to a sterilization room where a robotic arm immerses them in an ultrasonic tank for cleaning, removes them, and places them in a dome for proper identification. The robotic arm moves pre-packaged envelopes inside the autoclave, and once that process is complete, carries the cleaned tools where needed. During the entire sterilization process, information on the instrument(s)’ life cycle is collected and analyzed, ensuring full optimization of the tools and methods used to treat them.