The dawn of surgery bots + buy a home for $250 (w/ Andromeda & Mogul) | E2313

July 17, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

When Nick Daviano, CEO of Andromeda Surgical, describes surgery as being in "the horse and buggy era" compared to autonomous driving, he is not exaggerating for effect. Surgical robots exist, but nearly all of them are direct extensions of a human surgeon's hands—no autonomy, no AI-driven decision-making. Daviano's company is trying to bridge that gap, starting with a specific prostate procedure and building toward a future where a surgeon might oversee ten operations from an air traffic control console rather than performing one at a time with a scalpel.

The wedge: urology and the HOLEP procedure

Andromeda Surgical is not trying to build a general-purpose surgical robot from scratch. Instead, it uses an off-the-shelf robotic arm from the German company Kuka and controls it via an iPad app. The company's initial target is a procedure called HOLEP for BPH (enlarged prostate), a condition that affects nearly every man eventually. Urologists were the first adopters of surgical robots (Intuitive's DaVinci system started there), so they are a tech-forward group that already expects robotic assistance. But HOLEP is not currently done with robots, and it is notoriously difficult: a novice surgeon might take five hours struggling through it, while the best in the world finish in thirty minutes. Andromeda aims to elevate every surgeon to that expert level.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of This Week in Startups

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Syndicates & Real Estate Tokenization Intro** - Jason previews the two segments: Andromeda Surgical (autonomous surgery robotics) and Mogul (fractional real estate investing)
2 (01:21) **The Sci-Fi Vision of Autonomous Surgery** - Alex introduces the dream of a machine that can fix any injury instantly
3 (02:05) **Nick Daviano, Andromeda Surgical - The 10-Year AI Surgery Vision** - CEO defines the future: AI and autonomy will be ubiquitous in surgery within a decade
4 (03:17) **Current Andromeda System: iPad-Controlled Robot** - Explains the off-the-shelf robotic arm controlled via iPad, starting with prostate surgery (HoLEP for BPH)
5 (05:27) **What Autonomy Exists Today?** - Current features: "Google Maps for the body" (real-time spatial tracking) and auto-pivoting to minimize tissue damage
6 (07:25) **The Data Challenge & Flywheel Effect** - Explains how they acquire training data: YouTube surgical videos, surgeon-creators, and their own clinic cases
7 (11:55) **Why Off-the-Shelf Hardware & Fast Iteration** - Uses a Kuka arm; focuses on software autonomy, not custom tools

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The dawn of surgery bots + buy a home for $250 (w/ Andromeda & Mogul) | E2313

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

CLA https://claconnect.com/withyou

MongoDB https://MongoDB.com/ai

Today's show:

*Andromeda Surgical is building the autonomy layer that could one day allow robots to perform surgery. Rather than building their own intricate, complex hardware, Andromeda uses off-the-shelf arms from a German manufacturer, and focuses on the software that will allow doctors to operate it from an iPad.

Plus Mogul co-founder and CEO Alex Blackwood shows Jason how his platform lets anyone buy fractional shares of rental homes for as little as $250, earning monthly dividends, appreciation, and tax benefits without the headache of being someone's landlord.

It's a founder double feature on a brand new TWiST.

Guests:

Nick Damiano on X: https://x.com/nickdamian0

Andromeda Surgical: https://www.andromedasurgical.com/

Alex Blackwood on X: https://x.com/blackwoodtweets

Mogul: https://www.mogul.club/

Relevant Links:

KUKA: https://www.kuka.com/

Intuitive Surgical (and Da Vinci 5): https://www.intuitive.com/en-us

Neuralink: https://neuralink.com/

Padsplit: https://www.padsplit.com/

AngelList: https://www.angellist.com/

The Syndicate: https://thesyndicate.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 The iPad controlled surgery bot

5:46 Building "Google Maps for the body"

10:10 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

14:28 What is a "sous surgeon"

20:46 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

24:30 The Neuralink connection

29:40 U