Magnendo Corp. has been selected for an award of up to $32 million from ARPA-H to develop magnetic robotic navigation technology for increasingly autonomous treatment of ischemic strokes. The five-year award is part of ARPA-H’s Autonomous Interventions and Robotics program and will support development of a platform for navigating guidewires and catheters through complex vascular anatomy during endovascular procedures. Magnendo said preclinical testing showed faster navigation and more consistent performance across physicians with different experience levels, and it plans to integrate robotics, medical imaging and AI into a single autonomous intervention platform. The company is targeting mechanical thrombectomy, a procedure used to remove blood clots that block major blood vessels in the brain. Access to the treatment can be limited because it requires physicians with specialized training and is available at relatively few hospitals, Magnendo pointed out. Also, navigating catheters and guidewires through blood vessels can also be difficult due to the complexity of vascular anatomy. Magnendo said those conditions can increase the time required to reach a clot, delaying treatment in procedures where speed is important. ARPA-H Program Manager Ileana Hancu, Ph.D., who leads AIR, noted that hundreds of thousands of people who suffer large vessel occlusions each year do not get thrombectomies, the standard of care for this type of strokes, and that AIR will bring care to the nearest hospital. Under the federal program, Magnendo plans to work with academic, clinical and industry partners to combine robotics with medical imaging, artificial