Surgical robotics · Calgary, Canada

Precision engineering for minimally invasive surgery.

Serpento is a research lab and an early-stage medical device company. We turn fundamental mechanics into tools for the operating room, developed side by side with surgeons.

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Stage
Research & development
Home
University of Calgary
Network
Canada · Switzerland
Our mission

Minimally invasive surgery has transformed what is possible for patients. We believe the instruments around the operating table can do much more. Serpento exists to build them, carefully, from first principles.

The access problem

Reaching the right place is the hard part.

Many procedures are limited not by the surgeon, but by how instruments can get there.

  1. 01

    Rigid instruments

    Travel in a straight line. Tissue in the way is pushed aside or injured, which can lead to adhesions.

  2. 02

    Flexible instruments

    Bend, but cannot hold a path. They depend on natural openings and lack stability for precise work.

  3. 03

    Serpento

    Follows a curved path around tissue and reaches the target without disturbing the tissue around it.

One team, two halves

A research lab and a company, working as one.

The lab

Fundamental research

At the University of Calgary we study the mechanics, materials and control behind the next generation of surgical instruments.

  • Graduate research and theses
  • Academic collaborations
  • Open, peer-reviewed results
Explore the research The company

Devices for the operating room

We translate the lab's work into medical devices, with clinicians, regulatory specialists and manufacturing partners from day one.

  • Clinician-led product development
  • Regulatory planning built in
  • Industrial manufacturing partners
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Our approach

From first principles to the operating room.

Every design passes through six stages, in order. Nothing moves forward until the stage before it agrees.

  1. 01

    Theory

    We start from the mechanics. Loads, stresses and motion are derived analytically before anything is drawn.

  2. 02

    Design

    Parametric CAD and finite element analysis turn the theory into geometry we can check and refine.

  3. 03

    Prototype

    Parts are made by additive manufacturing, from in-house printers to industrial polymer systems.

  4. 04

    Bench testing

    Instrumented test rigs measure how every part really behaves under load and over many cycles.

  5. 05

    Simulation

    Physics models, calibrated against bench data, let us explore far more cases than a lab can test.

  6. 06

    Clinical review

    Surgeons on our team review each iteration against how an operation actually runs.