While the technology certainly has its limitations, MRIs are an indispensable tool for surgeons. Take, for example, surgeons who use machines to guide their procedures. The current process requires putting the patient in a machine to take images and then pulling the needle out to advance it one centimeter at a time. This is a time-consuming and frankly inefficient use of resources.

Based in the Bay Area and boasting the slogan “Opening a new page in minimally invasive surgery” MDC He believes the answer lies in robotics. While robotics undoubtedly represents the future of surgery, it brings its own challenges in this application. After all, traditional robots contain many elements that cannot operate inside an MRI.

The company appeared on the Startup Battlefield stage TechCrunch Disruption 2024.

MDC’s challenge, then, was to create a robotic system that could work on a patient inside an MRI without the need for electric motors, rare earth metals, and other elements that could interfere with the imaging machine’s operations.

The young startup’s work is based on research conducted while founder and CEO Sam Frishman worked at Johns Hopkins and Stanford. Frishman describes the solution as “high-rigidity, low-friction hydraulic transmissions and actuators.” The system is powered by water and connected to the outside of the MRI via a tube.

“Our system has a few different features,” Frishman told TechCrunch. “One is the ability to have really deft control directly from the doctor. They control the needle by positioning it, advancing it, operating it; It’s like they’re holding it in their hands.”

MDC is specifically targeting biopsies and ablations in its initial offering. The CEO says these minimally invasive procedures are just the beginning.

“It actually enables new capabilities beyond what is possible today,” says Frishman. “That’s where you start adding digitization, power support, guidance through AI and all the data we collect, beyond human capabilities, but the doctor is still in complete control and making all the decisions.”

MDC just graduated from SOSV’s HAX accelerator and hit the stage today as part of the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt. The company raised $1.2 million in pre-seed money.