Da Vinci 5 Surgical System – 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year

Published on: 23 September 2024

THE AUSTRALIAN GOOD DESIGN AWARD OF THE YEAR IS AWARDED TO ONLY ONE EXEMPLARY PROJECT ACROSS ALL DESIGN DISCIPLINES AND CATEGORIES.

WITH ONLY ONE PROJECT EARNING THIS TOP ACCOLADE EACH YEAR, IT REPRESENTS THE VERY PEAK OF DESIGN EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION.

Picture this: a surgical platform that has more than 150 enhancements and 10,000 times more computing power than its previous generation. Da Vinci 5 by Intuitive isn’t just about impressive stats; it’s about transforming the everyday experience of surgeons and care teams.

It introduces an ergonomically designed console for unparalleled comfort¹, empowering surgeons to effortlessly control every aspect through seamless component integration. Da Vinci 5 merges form and function flawlessly, offering Intuitive’s most advanced surgical tool to help surgeons achieve peak efficiency and performance.

Awarded the Australian Good Design of the Year, Intuitive’s da Vinci 5 exemplifies this redefined design innovation. By combining collaborative creativity with solution-focused thinking, this advanced minimally invasive surgical platform offers greater surgeon autonomy and streamlined workflow that may help hospitals address staffing challenges. It sets new benchmarks for efficiency, and provides valuable insights with the aim of helping surgeons improve patient outcomes.

[Da Vinci 5 – Winner of the 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year. Image: Intuitive]

To step behind the design, we spoke with Russell Blanchard, Director of Product Design at Intuitive. He discussed the collaborative design process that created the da Vinci 5, highlighting how a blend of skills helps tailor the technology to meet specific needs.

“There’s many different areas of expertise at Intuitive, so there’s a lot of different perspectives that come into a project like this,” Russell Blanchard explained.

“We collaborate very closely with mechanical design engineers, an incredibly impressive group of individuals who make the products work. They are responsible for actually inventing the robotic technology that makes the products function as intended. Industrial and Interaction designers work shoulder to shoulder with engineering so that the technology is intuitive and easy to experience and interact with.”

“We also partner with the Clinical Development Engineering team. They are engineers with surgical training so they’re the ones who define how to solve the clinical tasks of a surgical procedure in order to help surgeons achieve the clinical outcome they are aiming for.”

“In building the industrial design team, we had to make sure that we were educating ourselves on understanding the clinical workflow, contextual environment, the surgical techniques, and what the surgeon and care team are trying to accomplish.”

“Working with the clinical development engineers was great exposure to the point of view of the surgeon and what they are actually trying to do in each stage of a procedure. Are they cutting? Are they suturing? What are the ergonomics of surgery that we’re designing to support and improve? They’re fantastic partners to work with,” Russell added.

As the head of the Industrial Design Team, Russell’s emphasis on user interaction and close collaboration with the Human Factors Engineering group was crucial in designing the da Vinci 5 system. The Human Factors Engineering team’s approach supported the safe, user-friendly, and effective system operation, leading to its successful reception among medical professionals.

The excitement surrounding this launch has surpassed customer expectations. Da Vinci 5’s design and engineering enhancements, including new surgeon controllers, powerful sensors, and vibration and tremor controls in the robots arms, make it the smoothest and most precise integrated system Intuitive has developed to date.

[Da Vinci 5 – Winner of the 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year. Image: Intuitive]

Russell also highlighted the role of innovation in their design process, pointing out that the da Vinci 5 System integrates cutting-edge features like Force Feedback technology, which is one of the most exciting advancements.

“This technology allows surgeons to sense the push and pull forces exerted on patient tissue and translates forces in three dimensions, from the instrument tip to the surgeon hand controllers. It’s an impressive achievement by the Intuitive engineering teams,” he explained.

Further developments include new surgeon controllers and enhanced vibration and tremor controls, all designed with user experience in mind, with comfort a priority.

So that innovation is carried through to da Vinci 5, we’ve made the console experience for surgeons even more ergonomic by design and through extended adjustments, allowing surgeons to find the right fit for surgical viewing and personal comfort,” added Russell.²

“We’ve improved the ergonomics. We’ve tried to really reduce the physical strain surgeons can experience. The da Vinci 5 surgeon console allows surgeons to sit down comfortably and sit upright.”

Creativity is another cornerstone of their design philosophy. “Creativity is inherent in the way we solve problems. We always start with first principles and what are the core problems we’re trying to solve? What are the core constraints and what is the outcome we’re trying to enable?”

Russell added, “Creativity is ingrained in the way that we work, in the spaces that we use internally. It’s a very practical hands-on ‘prototype to learn culture’. We have extremely diverse teams, which always breeds creativity, because you have multiple perspectives on the same problem.”

Intuitive’s focus on innovation and creativity highlights their dedication to progressing healthcare design, so that their solutions are both state-of-the-art and highly effective. The da Vinci 5 embodies holistic quality, encompassing everything from user experience performance and efficiency to its construction and manufacturing.

[Da Vinci 5 – Winner of the 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year. Image: Intuitive]

This year’s Australian Good Design Awards theme, “The Design Effect,” highlights how exceptional design can transform individuals and communities, with da Vinci 5 exemplifying this impact.

“It’s truly shaping the future of healthcare design. To me, that’s the ripple effect. It’s a great product in the hands of skilled surgeons,” said Russell.

Russell added the significance of da Vinci 5 receiving the Australian Good Design Award of the Year.

“I think everybody who’s worked on the platform can take pride in this win. It means a lot to me personally, because joining Intuitive, eight years ago, was an exciting opportunity to grow an industrial design capability, to augment the already tremendous engineering prowess.”

“They’d already been very successful putting incredible technology out there that had made waves in the surgical space. For me personally and for the rest of the design community here, I think it’s a really nice recognition that Intuitive can be known not just for great pure engineering, but also for great design and user experience, and to be recognised in Australia and on a global stage.”

“The last eight years have really been building that capability of design, establishing the value of design, building the collaboration between Intuitive teams and the balance in order to be able to influence projects that were happening. So to me, it’s a testament that we’re heading in the right direction. There’s still plenty of room to grow and many exciting challenges coming in future. It’s a great testament to the impact that design has had on this company.”

Good Design Australia congratulates Intuitive for their groundbreaking design of da Vinci 5.

“This innovative design is poised to create benefits for both medical professionals and patients. By placing user-centred innovation, collaboration, and solution-oriented thinking at the heart of healthcare design, da Vinci 5 paves the way forward,” said Rachel Wye, Managing Director of Good Design Australia.