Blog | 7/29/2025
Surgical Robotics: A Tale of Two Markets
An Incomplete, Directional View of the Orthopedic Robotics Market
The orthopedic robotics market is evolving rapidly as companies large and small compete for adoption and use within ortho practices. Given limited reporting and no great way to track use with claims, it’s difficult to know who is leading the charge. By collecting publicly stated data points on the number of procedures performed by various robotic systems, you can begin to see the major players in the field: Stryker's Mako, Smith+Nephew's NAVIO/CORI, Zimmer’s ROSA, and Globus’s ExcelsiusGPS.
While the data should not indicate the true penetration nor the true share today, it at least gives us some direction. More interesting, and why we have seen such significant investments in the space, is the growth certain players have been able to achieve (e.g., Globus). Along this trend, Stryker made headlines earlier this year by divesting its spinal implant business to VB Spine, a move aimed at refocusing on faster-growing segments like enabling technologies. Zimmer recently acquired Monogram (an innovative robotics companies) and partnered with THINK surgical to add to its robotic portfolio.
Despite impressive gains, the market remains underpenetrated, and opportunity exists for other large implant OEMs (JNJ, Medtronic) and smaller, robotic-focused players to expand share (e.g., Corin, CUREXO, eCential, THINK, Brainlab, Galen, Convergence, amongst several others.
It will be fascinating to watch over the next few years – the ortho robotics market feels a bit like the wild wild west compared to the soft-tissue robotics market where Intuitive da Vinci has been the 800-pound gorilla. Will share shift much beyond current implant share? Will surgeons demand open systems? Who will win in the ASC?
The future of orthopedic robotics is bright, and those who can adapt and differentiate will be the ones to watch.
Soft Tissue Robots, Will Anyone Win Against Intuitive?
In the more established field of soft tissue robotics, Intuitive has run up a massive head start (estimates peg Intuitive’s market share at >95% of the soft-tissue robots), but big opportunity still remains. Despite rampant growth for more than a decade, still, less than 5% of global procedures are performed robotically, with many applications yet to be robotically enabled. And many facilities, namely ASCs and ex-US hospitals, have yet to adopt robotics.
Intuitive has maintained impressive, double-digit growth for years, driven by continued innovation within existing robotically enabled procedures and expansion into new soft-tissue procedures, such as colorectal and general surgeries. Increasing overall procedure penetration has further fueled the need for more capital capacity, which Intuitive is hoping to unlock with their latest robot, da Vinci V, initially rolled out in March 2024 and more broadly in 2025.
With so much opportunity, it’s no surprise that there are dozens of companies developing systems to compete with Intuitive; we count >35 just in the soft tissue category in our internal tracking of robotics companies (>100 total!). Perhaps the most anticipated competition, MIS heavy hitters Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson are set to challenge Intuitive in the near future. While J&J continues to battle delays, Medtronic’s Hugo is expected to launch in the US within 12-18 months, with planned integration of its MIS instruments. But can Hugo gain enough ground in robotics to offset declines in manual instruments? And how will hospitals consider adoption of a new system that launches with only a few clinical indications? Will they wait until the fuller suite is available?
And can any of the smaller players make a dent in Intuitive’s market-owning position in soft tissue? The longstanding challengers have certainly struggled at the outset. But we’re optimistic that as robotics matures and so many players innovate, we’ll see creative approaches to further precision and safety across a growing number of soft tissue applications.