[AI Revolution](206) World's First AI Robotic Endoscope... Mediintech "Integrating Physical AI into Healthcare"

Interview with CEO Lee Chiwon and Vice President Kim Myungjun

Launch of AI-based robotic endoscope "Intion"

From operation to detection, endoscopy powered by AI

"Universal access to medical care through physical AI in healthcare"

"We want to encapsulate the knowledge and skilled hands of experienced physicians into our equipment, so that more people can receive high-quality medical care."

This is what Lee Chiwon, CEO of Mediintech, said in a recent interview with The Asia Business Daily. His ambition is to increase diagnostic accuracy and allow everyone to benefit from quality healthcare through AI endoscopy equipment that has learned from the techniques of numerous medical professionals.

Lee Chiwon, CEO of Mediintech (right), and Kim Myungjun, Vice President, pose ahead of an interview with The Asia Business Daily at Mediintech in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang

Mediintech is a robotics endoscopy company founded in 2020 by CEO Lee Chiwon and Vice President Kim Myungjun, who previously researched surgical robots at the Seoul National University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering. The company is developing so-called "robotic endoscopes" that fully electrify the previously mechanical, analog approach. Currently, flexible endoscopes used for gastroscopy and colonoscopy have not yet been electrified, and there is significant demand from medical professionals for such advances.

Mediintech officially launched its AI-powered electric endoscopes, "Intion S" and "Intion S AI," on the 11th of last month. According to Mediintech, Intion is the world's first to apply both robotics and physical AI technology to gastrointestinal endoscopy equipment. Mediintech not only developed these devices but also handles all aspects of manufacturing.

The key difference between Intion and conventional endoscopy equipment is that it operates based on AI. When the device moves inside a patient's body, the AI analyzes real-time images and autonomously determines the direction of movement. If a lesion such as a polyp appears in the endoscopic image, the AI detects it in real time. Currently, Olympus, Pentax, and Fujifilm together hold more than 90% of the endoscopy device market, but none of them support this functionality.

All movements of Intion occur under the control of a physician. This is to prevent any potential damage from malfunctions as the device moves inside a patient's organs. Vice President Kim explained, "When you turn on AI mode, the device first shows the intended direction of movement on the screen and only proceeds after confirmation from the doctor. If the device moves in a way different from the medical staff's expectations, simply releasing your hand or foot from the button or pedal instantly switches the system to manual mode."

Lee Chiwon, CEO of MediIntech, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily on the 23rd at MediIntech in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

Leveraging AI has also increased the probability of detecting lesions. According to clinical trial data submitted for approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the accuracy rate is approximately 99.4%. CEO Lee emphasized, "Traditional endoscopes require manual operation, so detection rates varied depending on the physician's skill. By electrifying the endoscope and applying AI, we have implemented a system on par with the world's top medical professionals."

The AI model uses open-source multimodal models capable of understanding and learning from both video and images, and it was trained on numerous real gastrointestinal endoscopy videos. Approximately 120,000 videos and images, including endoscopic images suspected of containing lesions such as polyps, were used for training. After being selected for the "Pan-Ministry Medical Device R&D Project" in collaboration with Seoul National University Hospital, the company obtained de-identified training data through the hospital's gastroenterology department.

Although newly launched, Intion has already been adopted by more than 10 hospitals. Major health checkup centers with branches nationwide have also adopted the system. CEO Lee explained, "We are receiving feedback from medical staff at these hospitals that 'mental fatigue has decreased, allowing them to focus more on patient care' and 'the polyp detection rate has noticeably increased.'"

Mediintech's goal is to become a leader in "medical physical AI." To achieve this, the company plans to expand beyond Intion to develop bronchoscopic robot endoscopes and surgical robot platforms. CEO Lee emphasized, "Mediintech ultimately aims for physical AI within the field of medical AI. We want to integrate our technology into various medical devices so that everyone can benefit from it."

Vice President Kim also expressed confidence, saying, "If our technology can reduce the fatigue of medical professionals and provide a more comfortable treatment environment, the misdiagnosis rate will decrease, leading to safer healthcare for patients."

Myeongjun Kim, Vice President of Mediintech, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily on the 23rd at Mediintech in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.