Robotics & digital navigation
Your joint, planned around your anatomy.
Robotic-assisted knee replacement and digitally navigated hip replacement — both personalized to your own unique anatomy for exceptional accuracy.
What it is, in plain terms
A plan built around your anatomy.
For knee replacement, we use robotic-assisted knee replacement planned around your own unique anatomy. The surgeon plans implant size, position, and alignment on a 3-D model of your knee before the operation. On the day of surgery, the robotic arm helps carry out that plan within defined boundaries, and the system shows live data on ligament tension so the plan can be refined in real time.
For hip replacement, we use digitally navigated hip replacement, personalized to your own anatomy. Digital navigation tracks and confirms cup angle, leg length, and offset against the surgical plan — a check on accuracy beyond what the eye and instruments alone can do.
What these tools help with
Four ways this technology is used.
Planned around your anatomy
For knee replacement, the operation is planned around your own unique anatomy — implant size, position, and alignment are chosen to fit you, not an average patient.
Sub-millimetre precision
For robotic-assisted knee replacement, the robotic arm helps execute bone cuts and implant positioning within tight, pre-defined tolerances.
Soft-tissue balancing
Live ligament tension data lets the plan be adjusted in real time, aiming for a knee that feels balanced through its full arc of motion.
Digitally navigated hip
For hip replacement, digital navigation helps confirm cup angle, leg length, and offset against a plan personalized to your own anatomy.
An honest look
What this technology does — and doesn't — promise.
What it does do
- Improves the accuracy of implant positioning and alignment.
- Provides live soft-tissue balance data during knee replacement.
- Lets the surgeon plan and rehearse the operation on a 3-D model of your anatomy.
- Reduces the variability between cases — what was planned is what gets executed.
What it doesn't promise
- It does not operate on its own. The surgeon makes every clinical decision.
- It does not guarantee a faster recovery or a perfect outcome.
- Long-term implant survival depends on many factors — technique, implant choice, your biology, and your activity.
- A well-performed manual replacement remains an excellent operation. Robotic and digitally navigated tools are aids, not substitutes for judgement.
Side by side
Robotic-assisted / digitally navigated vs. conventional.
| Aspect | Robotic-assisted / digitally navigated | Conventional manual |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | The operation is planned around your own unique anatomy — implant size and position chosen to fit you specifically. | 2-D X-ray templating — a reliable plan based on standard landmarks and intra-operative judgement. |
| Execution | For the knee, a robotic arm guides bone cuts and implant positioning within the surgical plan. For the hip, digital navigation confirms component position in real time. | Manual jigs and instruments, guided by the surgeon's experience and intra-operative measurements. |
| Soft-tissue balance | Real-time ligament tension data feeds into the plan, so balance can be checked and refined during surgery. | Balance is assessed by feel, gap measurement, and trial implants — a long-proven technique. |
| What it doesn't change | The surgeon still makes every clinical decision. The technology doesn't operate on its own. | Outcomes from a well-performed manual replacement remain excellent and durable for most patients. |
2-D X-ray templating — a reliable plan based on standard landmarks and intra-operative judgement.
Manual jigs and instruments, guided by the surgeon's experience and intra-operative measurements.
Balance is assessed by feel, gap measurement, and trial implants — a long-proven technique.
Outcomes from a well-performed manual replacement remain excellent and durable for most patients.
Both are valid; the right choice depends on you.