When Eugene Malinskiy witnessed a physician assistant stumble over the cords of an arthroscopic camera during a surgery, it sparked an innovative idea. Together with his brother, Ilya, they embarked on a mission to create a wireless arthroscopic camera, revolutionizing the way medical procedures are conducted.
Their journey to innovation received an early boost from the engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Through the center’s Adopt-a-City program, a partnership facilitated by a Space Act Agreement with the city of Cleveland, the Malinskiys received invaluable technical guidance from NASA engineers, all on a pro bono basis.
The collaboration extended to discussions on utilizing ultra-wideband protocol—a radio technology that ensures the encrypted, high-definition signal transfer—and the selection of processors and chips for the device’s central processing unit. Ilya Malinskiy highlighted the significance of the feedback from NASA engineers, noting how it bolstered investor confidence. He remarked, “Being able to share that skilled NASA engineers had reviewed our device and encouraged us to proceed was incredibly beneficial.”
Interestingly, the development of the world’s first wireless arthroscopic camera shared similarities with the creation of CubeSats, the miniature satellites that cluster in Earth’s orbit. “We encountered many of the same challenges,” Ilya Malinskiy observed. Both innovations required the integration of reliable power sources without the burden of additional weight.
The collaboration with NASA proved fruitful beyond technical advice, as the engineers introduced the Lazurite team to several suppliers of high-fidelity aerospace lithium-ion batteries.
In 2022, this partnership culminated in the launch of Lazurite’s ArthroFree Wireless Camera System, marking a significant milestone as the first FDA-cleared wireless camera system for minimally invasive surgeries. Since its introduction, the ArthroFree system has been instrumental in numerous surgical procedures, propelling Lazurite to secure tens of millions of dollars in funding and setting a new standard in medical technology.