A state-of-the-art robotic patient positioner has been developed by ProCure Treatment Centers in partnership with another US company, Forte Automation Solutions, and has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The robotic positioner offers such automated and useful functions as moving the patient around under the nozzle, providing more freedom to precisely position the target under the treatment beam. The robotic positioner is software-controlled and allows complex and compound motions, which will help boost the patient throughput of proton therapy centers.
This articulated 6-axis robot is based on off-the-shelf Kuka robot components. With a tilt angle of up to 15 degrees, it also shows docking capabilities that broaden the scope of its applications (including snout changes and support for tools such as water phantoms). The first patient-positioning system robot is expected to be delivered in ProCure’s first Proton Therapy center, due to open in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, by summer 2009.
