Restoration Robotics: The World of Robotic Hair Transplantations

The subtlety of hairs and the ruggedness of robots— as unusual as these two might sound together, the combination can revolutionize medical aesthetics, especially for the delicate and time-consuming hair restoration processes. Restoration Robotics, a company based in California, has managed to accomplish this very feat of developing a ground-breaking system to ‘roboticize’ hair transplantations. Equipped with machine vision, 3D imaging, AI, and machine learning, the robot is one-of-its-kind, and this makes Restoration Robotics the pioneer of the very first wave of enterprises engaged in automation of medical aesthetics.

Any person acquainted with the intricacies of hair restorations understands the complexity and the attention to minute detailing the procedure demands. The foremost step, hair harvesting or hair extracting, is where Restoration Robotics comes into play. “Our intelligent robotics system, ARTAS allows a highly precise, efficient, and reproducible FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) procedure which is quite revolutionary when compared to this field’s history,” states Ryan Rhodes, CEO of Restoration Robotics. With the micron-level dynamic vision of hair follicles and the projections of follicular root structures during the harvesting, ARTAS measures the graft’s changing parameters during the process 60 times a second, in real-time. The system harvests around 1500 grafts an hour, boasting extensively lower transection rates and therefore a much more efficient, healthy hair harvest than conventional mechanisms.

Gabe Zingaretti, the COO of Restoration Robotics, offers a sneakpeek into the working mechanism of the ARTAS system. The robot encloses a 3D imaging framework which comprehensively maps the patient’s scalp and the spread of hair. The information is passed to the system’s AI software that analyzes the hair’s variable parameters and the required density of harvest to determine the patient’s donor area and find the best graft. The AI algorithms then outline the right operation pattern to prevent over-harvesting the donor area and this plan is fed into the robotic arm that aligns itself with the hair to be extracted. As the system commences along the fed pattern, the AI software continually monitors the depth of the dissecting tools to adjust them in real– time according to each extracted graft. “A physician can easily monitor the whole process through a visual interface that constantly gives a magnified view with detailed analytical feedback of each graft’s condition while it’s being harvested,” informs Gabe. He adds that a physician is also allowed to set some operating parameters for the robot externally according to the patient’s necessities.

With an increasing population becoming interested in hair restorations, practitioners are looking for an efficient automation tool that considerably saves both cost and time. Restoration Robotics simplifies the complex hair restoration process for physicians through robotics and offers a seamless user interface. Rhodes names one of many renowned physicians, Robert Bernstein of New York City who has adopted the ARTAS system for his practice. He experienced such substantial success with the instrument that he even published a paper on the subject.

Restoration Robotics has completely transformed the tedious hair harvesting process of the hair restoration workflow. However, the company aims bigger. Restoration Robotics is close to extending its robotics system’s capabilities to the next level— implantation of harvested grafts in the patient’s recipient area. This would enable the company to model a full 3D pre-operative plan of the process and automate the entire hair restoration procedure—harvesting and implantation—through robotics.