W.S.G. Isaac Newton

Flux Robotics is a start-up company in Enschede that developed the Flux One System, a medical device, which assists the surgeon during vascular surgeries. These surgeries are often complex and take much time to perform. The main challenge for surgeons is reaching target areas inside vessel anatomy that are quite difficult. For a specific surgery, a guidewire has to be inserted in certain blood vessels. The Flux One System, which consists of a robotic arm with a magnet at the end, can help the surgeon reach those difficult areas. To clarify, the magnet can influence the direction of the tip of the guidewire, which helps the surgeon with steering the guidewire inside the vessel anatomy. The new method is less invasive and could eliminate much of the handling with surgical tools. Furthermore, complexity is reduced and much time is saved.

During my internship, I worked on a commercial robotic arm of the brand KUKA. My assignment focused mostly on software, control, electronics, and mechanical engineering. I was able to write robotic applications and run the applications on the actual physical robot. Because of this, I got a great understanding of how a real robot works, how it is programmed, and how it can move. Overall, the assignment was really fun and I learned a lot. The team was enthusiastic and also very helpful.