King's College London leads global stroke robot standards

April 15, 2026

A major breakthrough at King's College London could soon make life-saving stroke treatments more accessible and safer for patients across the globe. Experts from the university have helped create the first international agreement on how robotic systems for stroke treatment should be designed, tested, and evaluated.

No More Guesswork for Stroke Robots

Until now, there's been no clear guide on how these complex robotic systems, used in a procedure called mechanical thrombectomy (MT), should be built or tested. This has made it hard to compare different approaches and ensure patient safety.

A new position statement, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, aims to fix that. It sets out clear standards to put patient safety first.

MT is a crucial procedure to remove blood clots from the brain. It needs to happen quickly for the best results, but specialist expertise is often limited, meaning access is restricted.

Robotic surgical systems offer a potential solution, allowing specialists to perform procedures remotely. However, the lack of standardisation has slowed progress.

"We found that although several studies existed, they were all testing different tasks, using different models and measuring different outcomes," said Harry Robertshaw, a PhD student at King's College London's School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences. "This made it impossible to compare results or identify the most effective approaches."

Global Collaboration for Patient Safety

To tackle this, the King's College London team brought together experts from around the world. They included specialists in stroke treatment, robotics, data science, health economics, policy, statistics, and even patient advocates.

This collaboration has resulted in consensus frameworks for developing and validating robotic MT. The position statement now details how these systems should be tested and how their effectiveness should be measured and reported.

"By bringing together experts from clinical practice, academia, industry and patient representatives, we have defined the first consensus standards for robotics and AI in thrombectomy navigation," explained Robertshaw. "This will help to move the technology forward as its integration with clinical practice moves closer to reality."

Patient perspectives were a key part of the process, with input from organisations like the Stroke Association. This ensured that safety, real-world impact, and patient benefit remained at the forefront.

Dr Thomas Booth, a Reader in Neuroimaging at King's College London and Consultant Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiologist at King's College Hospital, commented: "While AI-assisted robotic MT is not yet ready for routine clinical use, the speed of innovation in both robotics and AI means transformative advances are likely to be just around the corner."

"Our work lays the foundation for that future by defining clear standards to ensure that global development and validation are well understood," he added.

The position statement is already making waves. The King's College London team recently demonstrated for the first time that AI can autonomously perform MT navigation in a physical lab setting. These new frameworks will guide how that work is developed, validated, and eventually brought into clinical trials.

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