Make better decisions on the surgical robotics market

Surgical robotics is heating up right now, and new big robots are reaching US hospitals.

We've found a lot of interesting signals. For example, Medtronic won FDA clearance for its Hugo robot in urology in December 2025. Then in July 2026, Johnson & Johnson got FDA authorization for Ottava, its soft-tissue surgery robot. Two of the world's largest device makers can now sell their own surgical robots to US hospitals, after years of waiting.

Here, we look at what these new robots change for hospitals, prices and smaller players, and why soft-tissue surgery is not the only place where robots are spreading.

Surgeons get tired, hospitals lack staff, and patients want smaller cuts and shorter stays. Robots promise to help with all three, at a price.

We compare surgical robots across different procedures, from joints and the spine to microsurgery and catheters. For each, we rank buyers' problems, like high equipment costs, long setup times and difficult surgeon training.

This shows where hospitals will pay for a robot, and where a skilled surgeon with good tools is still the better deal.

Robot sales, leases, pay-per-procedure deals, instruments used in each surgery, service contracts and training: surgical robot companies earn money at several points.

We compare large surgical systems, smaller robots and pay-per-use contracts. Instruments and service can earn revenue long after a hospital buys a robot. Lower-priced systems still need enough procedures to pay off, while rentals leave more risk with the maker.

You'll see which models hold up when hospitals push back on price and big rivals offer discounts to win their first sites.

We give you a growth rate for surgical robotics. Here, we explain what would have to happen for it to come true.

Some drivers are easy to see: more procedures done with a robot, new systems from large device makers, and smaller robots that fit outpatient centers. Others feed each other. Each robot installed brings more instrument sales. Every case adds data to improve the software. And as more surgeons train on robots, hospitals find it easier to buy one.

Before building or investing, you should know what convinces a hospital to add a robot, and what makes surgeons use it every day.

Intuitive and Stryker have become the faces of robotic surgery, but they're only the top layer of this market.

Many promising players focus on one part of the body. Some build flexible robots that reach deep into the lungs. Others make tiny robots for eye or vascular surgery, guide dental implants, or steer catheters inside blood vessels. They rarely make headlines, but they could own their niche.

They're hard to compare because each one targets a different procedure, with its own surgeons, rules and evidence. A spine robot and a lung robot don't share buyers. And approval in one country says little about sales in another.

Below, you'll find the market grids and ecosystem maps we've built to show who works on which procedure, and where new players are getting in.

Stryker's Mako, Globus Medical, PROCEPT BioRobotics… a few surgical robots have turned into steady businesses.

Mako pairs surgical robots with knee and hip implants. Globus Medical specializes in spine surgery. PROCEPT focuses on a common prostate procedure and is still working toward profitability. Each built around a clear task that surgeons repeat.

We'll look at how these teams chose their procedure, tied the robot to what they already did best, and grew case volume one hospital at a time.