Trends of aging and obesity may be straining joints and slowing down the U.S. population, but they’ve helped speed one Davie robotics business.

MAKO Surgical Corp., whose robotic-arm technology is used to perform precision knee and hip replacements, was named the fastest growing company on Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500 of North America this fall. And its growth continues: MAKO has doubled its production line in an expansion that will add 100 jobs. And it has set its sights on selling robots to hundreds of hospitals and supplying implants in what the CEO calls a “razor-razorblade” model.

The potential market looms large: “We’re just at the beginning of this $35 billion industry,” said CEO Dr. Maurice R. Ferré. “We want to be a major player. We want to put a robot in every operating room.”

The company sees its innovative technology changing the lives of joint replacement patients and practices of orthopaedic surgeons — and increasing healthcare efficiency.

“We represent a whole new breed of companies starting to emerge that will take this country to the next level,” Ferré said.

MAKO, founded in 2004, makes and markets its $1.3 million RIO Robotic-Arm Interactive Orthopedic System and Restoris knee and hip implants for minimally invasive surgery. The RIO system, a platform with a robotic arm and visualization technology, prepares the joint for the insertion and alignment of the implants in the partial knee replacement and the total hip procedure.

The system lets surgeons provide a “precise, consistently reproducible” procedure called a Makoplasty for people with knee and hip osteoarthritis. “These [implants] are parts that remain in the body for 20 to 30 years. You want to make sure you get them in right,” Ferré said.

The company follows the “razor-razorblade model” by making a one-time sale to a hospital of its RIO system and then generating subsequent repeat sales by supplying the implants that are needed to perform each surgery, Ferré explained. The company also produces added revenue by maintaining the robotic arm system.

More than 10,000 Makoplastys have been performed using 97 RIO systems installed as of Sept. 30, Ferré said. Hospitals throughout Florida, including Mercy Hospital in Miami and Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, now have the RIO system.

Dr. Martin Roche at Holy Cross Hospital was the first in the world to perform a Makoplasty partial knee procedure in 2006, according to the Fort Lauderdale hospital, adding that it was the first in Broward County to offer the Makoplasty Hip procedure.

MAKO, which went public in 2008, is targeting 1,200 hospitals for placement of more systems, a potential market of about $12 billion if each bought a robot, Ferré said.

In Naples, Dr. Frederick F. Buechel Jr. performed Physicians Regional Medical Center’s first Makoplasty in 2009. The hospital has since purchased a second and third RIO system and the orthopedic surgeon has now performed 400 Makoplasty partial knee procedures.

Think of coloring in a book, Buelchel said. “The robot’s arm won’t let you draw outside the line. It takes human error out of the picture.

“With crude tools, most surgeons didn’t do as well with partial knee replacement, because it is a technically challenging procedure,” he said. “Now we have the tool to be technically very precise. It brings back the value of the partial knee replacement.”