Is There Growth Left for Surgical Robots?

No matter how good artificial intelligence becomes, no airline company will ever fly without a human on board who gives the appearance of being in charge. eVTOLs might be the exception here, but a plane carrying 250 passengers will have someone in a suit with a dapper-looking cap making sure everything is kosher. The same holds true for surgeries. Even if a robot can do a surgery on its own, you can be sure a human will always be looking over its metallic shoulder to make sure nothing goes pear shaped. “Click yes to snip,” or “are you sure you want to cut that artery?” are the prompts tomorrow’s surgeons will become accustomed to. And the robots asking those questions will likely be produced by the leading robotic surgery company by a mile – Intuitive Surgical (ISRG).

Analysts estimate ISRG owns about 80% of the market share, with medical device manufacturer Stryker (SYK) reportedly a distant second at about 10% after acquiring Mako Robotics about a decade ago.

Credit: Nanalyze

Revisiting Intuitive Surgical Stock

While the ISRG IPO filing might be several decades old, it provides a simple explanation of how surgery has evolved. Modern open surgical techniques emerged in the second half of the 19th century because of the combination of two medical breakthroughs: anesthesia and sterile technique. Then came