Shanghai, China - During September 16-17, 2022, the 8^th Annual Conference of Urinary Surgery Doctor Branch of Shanghai Medical Doctor Association & The 6^th Pujiang U Star Competition of Shanghai Young Urinary Surgery Doctors, hosted by the Shanghai Medical Doctor Association and the Surgery Branch of the Shanghai Medical Doctor Association and organized by the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, was grandly held in Shanghai. Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort^® MedBot^®") was invited to the conference, and shared the clinical application and future prospects of Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot at the session of "Combination of Medicine and Engineering - Independent Innovation, Medical Transformation Subject - Elites Gathering of Chinese-developed Surgical Robots".

Prof. Linhui Wang, the President of The Urinary Surgery Doctor Branch of Shanghai Medical Doctor Association, Director of the Male Science Specialist Committee of Shanghai Medical Association and Director of the Urinary Surgery of The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University (Changhai Hospital) presided over the conference. The Urinary Surgery Doctor Branch of Shanghai Medical Doctor Association was established eight years ago. Since then, it has become an important window for Chinese-developed and international communication, a platform for master instruction, a demonstration stage for young doctors, a communication channel between doctors and patients, a base for medical humanistic care, and a strong support for safeguarding doctors’ interests under the common efforts of all urological surgeons in Shanghai. Adhering to the purpose of the doctor association and in compliance with its functions of "Service, Coordination, Self-discipline, Rights Protection, Supervision and Management", participants had in-depth communication around the topics of frontier technology, treatment review and surgical challenge. The 6^th Pujiang U Star Competition of Shanghai Young Urinary Surgery Doctors was also held during the conference, which provided the young urinary surgery doctors a platform to demonstrate their talents and expertise. A series of activities were also held including the academician forum, the master lecture and the QA session. Guests and audiences had heated discussion and communication around many trending topics. Unlike previous conferences, this year, a new session was added to the "Combination of Medicine and Engineering-Independent Innovation, Medical Conversion Subject", namely, Elites Gathering of Chinese-developed Surgical Robots, where experts of Chinese-developed surgical robots represented by MicroPort^® MedBot^® was invited to share information on the development and clinical application of Chinese-developed robots. Prof. Xu Gao, a urological surgery expert of Changhai Hospital, shared his experience as the representative of Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot users.

After sharing the introduction video of MicroPort^® MedBot^® and Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, Prof. Gao introduced the development journey of Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot and commented on its clinical application.

In January 2022, Toumai^® obtained the approval of NMPA for marketing, making it the first four-arm laparoscopic surgical robot independently researched and developed by a Chinese enterprise and approved for marketing so far. As a clinical expert of the Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, Prof. Xu Gao participated in the design and implementation of the whole process, including product R&D, registration, and clinical study, and there were three points that struck him the most:

It is very challenging and courageous for Toumai^® to choose the world’s most advanced multi-port, multi-arm surgical robot as the benchmarking;

In the whole design process of the clinical study, Toumai^® did not lower its bar at all but instead, it chose the imported robot as the direct, head-to-head object of study, despite the fact that it went through the green channel approval procedure;

The development and clinical study of Toumai^® was closely based on the actual demand of clinical application. When designing the clinical study scheme, Toumai^® chose the radical prostatectomy and the kidney surgery, and eventually obtained the approval for covering all urologic surgical procedures. It indicated that when developing the surgery design scheme, MicroPort^® MedBot^® was confident about the product and Toumai^® was highly received by doctors. That is why we were emboldened and empowered to make such a design and our products have been approved for the largest number of indications.

In addition to these three aspects, Prof. Xu Gao, who is well experienced in surgical robot operation, also expressed that Chinese-developed surgical robot manufacturers represented by MicroPort^® MedBot^® not only has advanced technologies, but always stay true to the aspiration to boost Chinese-developed surgical robots industry.

In particular, Prof. Xu Gao mentioned that since the launch of Toumai^®, the MicroPort^® MedBot^® has never stopped its R&D endeavor, and still carries out clinical research on all surgical procedures in a rigorous, earnest manner, including general surgeries, gynecology and thoracic surgeries. Meanwhile, the MicroPort^® MedBot^® is also conducting clinical trials using the four-arm surgical robot Toumai^® for single-port surgeries. In June 2022, Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot successfully completed the longest- distance 5G ultra-remote robotic surgery in the world so far, which greatly helps solve the surgical technology bottleneck of hospitals in remote and less developed areas and makes it easier to conduct difficult and complex surgeries.

According to Prof. Xu Gao, the MicroPort^® MedBot^® has made numerous unknown contributions and efforts to carry forward the business of Chinese-developed surgical robots. All the hard work and persistence have set up a role model for Chinese-developed surgical robot industry and boosted its growth. We hold the firm belief that Chinese-developed robots will make an even bigger and more significant contribution to the course of "Health China 2030" in the near future.