Meril is a well-established name in the global medical device landscape, with its research and manufacturing capabilities—particularly in cardiovascular stents and orthopaedic implants—significantly strengthening the Indian healthcare sector. During my tenure at Meril, I worked in the R&D Endosurgery & Robotics department, contributing to the development of the company’s in-house robotic surgery platforms.

MISSO Robot Assisted Laparoscopy

My primary responsibility was the design and development of embedded firmware for various subsystems of MISSO, Meril’s in-house robot-assisted laparoscopy platform.

I led the end-to-end firmware development for Meril’s custom EtherCAT-based motor driver, enabling precise BLDC control for actuating both the laparoscopic instrument DOFs and the joints of the in-house 7-DOF robotic arm.

Additionally, I took ownership of sourcing and integrating high-quality 7-inch touch displays for our system GUI. This involved performance tuning and optimising a Linux-based real-time OS running on an Intel Atom x6425 processor, ensuring responsive and deterministic UI performance under constrained hardware conditions.

MISSO Robot Assisted Orthopaedics

As part of a cross-functional initiative, I contributed to the development of Meril’s orthopaedic surgical robot.

My role involved scaling and automating the deployment of our custom Linux-based operating system across more than 200 systems. I implemented scripting-based automation to ensure consistent configuration, reliability, and reduced manufacturing time.

Delegation to China for CMEF2024

I was selected as part of a small company delegation to attend CMEF 2024 in Shanghai, China. There, I gained hands-on experience with six different Chinese surgical robotic systems, covering both single-port and multi-port systems.

Our delegation also visited 16 robotics startups and research institutes. These spanned warehouse automation robots, humanoids, quadrupeds, exoskeletons, and advanced bionic systems. The exposure broadened my understanding of robotic architectures and global trends in medical and industrial robotics.

Beyond the technical experience, the visit highlighted cultural contrasts between India and China—ranging from food to workplace communication—and offered valuable international perspective.