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TheTechno Optimist.

da Vinci 5Intuitive Surgical—da Vinci 5Intuitive Surgical—

Intuitive Surgical

da Vinci surgical robots, Ion lung biopsy

USpublicest. 1995intuitive.com (opens intuitive.com)Checked 25 Sep

The brief

Analyst view
  • The leader: 11,710 da Vinci systems installed as of June 30, 2026, up 12% in a year.
  • da Vinci 5 (FDA-cleared March 2024) was 246 of 468 system placements in Q2 2026.
  • Procedures drive the business: da Vinci procedures grew about 15% and Ion about 36% in Q2 2026.

Technical approach

As reported
Teleoperation

The surgeon is always in control

The surgeon works from a 3D console. The robot shrinks motions and filters tremor. It never acts on its own.

Haptics

Force feedback on da Vinci 5

Instruments measure push and pull on tissue and let the surgeon feel it, which Intuitive says can reduce force on tissue.

Compute

Much more computing

da Vinci 5 has about 10,000x the computing power of the Xi, for video, analytics and future software.

Ion

Shape-sensing tube for lung biopsy

Ion steers a thin, flexible tube deep into the airways. Fibre-optic sensing tracks its shape to reach small spots for biopsy.

Programs

Intuitive Surgical, two programs

Updated 16 Jul 2026
da Vinci 5Intuitive's fifth-generation surgical robot. It adds force feedback, a new surgeon console and far more computing than the Xi.ScalingNextInternational rollout (Europe, Japan and others)Updated 16 Jul 2026View program →IonA robot that steers an ultra-thin, shape-sensing tube deep into the lung to sample small nodules, aiming to catch lung cancer earlier.DeployNextInternational expansionUpdated 8 Oct 2025View program →
Research · Proto · Pilot · Deploy · Scaling

Research & demos

1 item

Open technical problems

Open · Active · Partial
  • Autonomy in surgeryActive research

    Letting the robot do steps like stitching on its own is hard: tissue moves and bends, and approval is tough.

  • Proving outcomes and costPartially solved

    Robotic surgery costs more. Showing better results for each procedure keeps adoption growing, especially outside the US.

Upcoming catalysts

Company-wide
  • 20 Oct2026Intuitive reports Q3 2026 results, including da Vinci 5 placementsda Vinci 5in 10 d

Company & funding

HQ
US
Founded
1995

Partners & customers

1 partner

People

Key people
  • Dave RosaCEO
  • Gary GuthartExecutive Chair
Primer