Mendaera combines handheld robotic guidance with Butterfly ultrasound chip

Mendaera has made its Focalist handheld robotic guidance system commercially available with Butterfly Network’s Ultrasound-on-Chip technology.

The integration uses a customised Butterfly iQ3 probe. It is the first partner product from the Butterfly Embedded licensing and co-development programme to reach commercial availability.

Focalist combines a handheld robotic mechanism with real-time ultrasound imaging and guidance software. The system is intended to position common interventional devices relative to an ultrasound transducer and the resulting image during diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

Potential procedures listed by Mendaera include vascular access, regional nerve blocks and access to organs. The system has US Food and Drug Administration clearance for use with adult and paediatric patients and must be used with compatible FDA-cleared ultrasound probes.

Butterfly’s imaging platform replaces the conventional assortment of piezoelectric transducers and beamforming electronics with a semiconductor-based architecture. The company presents this as a programmable platform that can support multiple imaging modes through one probe and associated software.

The integration also gives Mendaera access to Butterfly’s software-defined imaging environment. Mendaera said this could support future work involving image interpretation and robotic control, but it has not announced a separately cleared autonomous procedure or clinical AI function as part of this launch.

Both companies are due to demonstrate their systems at the ACEP26 Scientific Assembly in Chicago from 5 to 7 October 2026.