Sentire, a surgical robot built by Hong Kong’s Cornerstone Robotics, is joining Medtronic’s lineup in markets outside the United States. The $700M investment underpinning the arrangement was announced September 1.
Medtronic will pair Sentire with Hugo, its own soft-tissue platform, so hospitals get two robot options from one vendor. The deal surfaced alongside fiscal first-quarter earnings, and analysts quickly asked whether Hugo was being pushed aside. Chief executive Geoff Martha pushed back, telling investors the Cornerstone stake signals confidence in the broader robotics push, not retreat.
Martha sees a long runway for surgery robots. He cited worldwide penetration in the single digits and emerging markets near 1%. The category ranks among healthcare’s most compelling growth stories, he said.
Hugo systems are installed across 35 countries. Case volumes there are expanding at better than double the market’s pace. Management projects more than 50,000 Hugo procedures by the end of this fiscal year.
The stakes include breaking Intuitive’s grip on soft-tissue surgery. Hugo earned FDA clearance for urology less than a year ago, the first US win of its kind for a large medtech rival to da Vinci. Ottava, Johnson & Johnson’s competitor, secured FDA authorization in July.
More Hugo uses are on the way. Clearance filings for general surgery and gynecology sit with the agency. Medtronic also won recent approval for AI software that guides decisions during robot-assisted procedures. Cornerstone’s Sentire adds flexibility across care settings and pricing models, the company said.
