'We sold over 500 smart glasses worldwide last year.' Thanks in part to the Turnhout medical software company Rods & Cones, surgeons from Pakistan to Dubai can call in the help of remote specialists hands-free.
Together with the Antwerp technology company Iristick, which is responsible for the hardware, the medical software company Rods & Cones from Turnhout developed a 'smart glasses', with which surgeons in operating theatres can seek hands-free advice from other specialists, in-house or at another location.
'The surgeon only has to press the glasses once before entering the sterile operating theatre, and must not touch them there anymore', explains Jan Dheedene, the chief operating officer of Rods & Cones. 'Thanks to our software, he can ask specialists in the hospital or elsewhere in the world for hands-free advice via the glasses during a procedure. The surgeon sees their feedback on a small screen in the glasses.'
In the corona year 2020, the 'smart operating glasses' - equipped with cameras that stream images live to colleagues - took off. 'You gain time with it, because specialists in the hospital, for example, no longer have to come to the operating theatre to give their advice', says Dheedene.
'In the past, surgeons also had to travel abroad several times if they wanted to learn a new procedure there. Now they do this once and can then remotely request the advice of the foreign specialist. Such savings are very large for hospitals.'Due to corona, only one or two students could attend an operation. If a surgeon wears glasses now, groups of students can remotely follow the operation on a screen.
JAN DHEEDENE
COO RODS & CONES
Also for medical students, the smart glasses opened up possibilities in corona times, in which the number of people in operating theatres is kept to the strict minimum. 'Due to corona, only one or two, or sometimes even no students, could attend surgery', says Dheedene. 'If a surgeon now wears glasses, groups of 25 students at the UZ Leuven can remotely follow the operation on a screen.'
Since May last year, more than 500 smart operating glasses have been sold worldwide, to hospitals in Europe, the US and even in Dubai and Pakistan. 'We work through an annual subscription formula, which has been working very well since the end of last year,' explains Dheedene. 'Hospitals pay for, among other things, the training courses, which we organize remotely, and the maintenance.'
And so it suddenly goes hard for Rods & Cones, which was founded in 2017 by Jan Dheedene and his brother Bruno, who is CEO. 'We started 2020 with four freelancers, and now we have 22 employees in four locations. The development and logistics are done from the head office in Turnhout, the administration and the sale are in Amsterdam, where my brother lives. And we still have people in Zagreb and Barcelona.'
