Magnendo awarded $32M by ARPA-H for autonomous stroke intervention robotics

Magnendo Corp., an MIT spinout, has been awarded up to $32 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop autonomous robotic technology for treating ischemic strokes.

The funding is part of the Autonomous Interventions and Robotics (AIR) program, which aims to create robotic systems capable of performing endovascular interventions with decreasing levels of direct human input. The technology focuses on magnetic robotic navigation to guide instruments through complex and tortuous vascular anatomy, a process that is currently technically demanding and time-consuming for physicians.

A primary goal of the five-year program is to increase access to mechanical thrombectomy, a standard procedure for large vessel occlusions that is currently limited by the need for highly specialized expertise and availability at only a few hospitals. By reducing dependence on specialized manual skills and integrating robotics, imaging, and AI, the project seeks to enable more consistent and rapid stroke treatment across a broader range of medical facilities.