2. Google’s medtech reveal
The year ended with news of a partnership between the tech giant and Johnson to develop a smaller, lower-cost robot-assisted surgery platform. The JV, Verb Surgical, is slated to be led by former Volcano CEO Scott Huennekens. (The man who started the robotics program at Google, Babak Parviz, predicts that a fully autonomous surgical robot is in the cards for the near future.)