Forget Tech Stocks: The Medical Device Maker That's Essential to AI Healthcare

1 week ago 10

Reuben Gregg Brewer, The Motley Fool

Tue, January 27, 2026 astatine 8:50 AM CST 3 min read

  • Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci surgical robots are successful precocious demand.

  • The high-growth institution has begun incorporating AI into its technology.

  • The information it collects from surgeries could beryllium utilized to fto AI execute country 1 day.

  • 10 stocks we similar amended than Intuitive Surgical ›

For the astir part, artificial quality (AI) is conscionable a analyzable machine programme that uses information to pass its decision-making process. Essentially, it needs to beryllium trained. If you are looking for information astir the highly analyzable process of performing surgery, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) would beryllium a bully spot to start. But the communicative isn't conscionable the company's data.

Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci surgical robot. It has been making da Vinci systems for a precise agelong time, ending 2025 with implicit 11,106 of these high-tech aesculapian devices installed globally. That's 12% much da Vinci systems than were operating astatine the extremity of 2024. However, the fig of surgeries performed utilizing a da Vinci robot roseate 18% twelvemonth implicit year.

A surgical robot.

Image source: Getty Images.

Very clearly, determination is beardown request successful the healthcare manufacture for some the robots and for robotic-assisted surgery. Notably, astatine the extremity of 2025, the FDA approved Intuitive Surgical's AI-based enhancement to its Ion endoluminal system. It's evidently complex, but the summation of AI helps surgeons marque real-time decisions successful situations wherever a patient's lung has moved. Lungs are ever moving due to the fact that humans person to respire to live, which makes this an charismatic feature.

This benignant of beforehand is apt conscionable the commencement of the AI gyration successful robotic surgery. Since artificial quality learns by examining data, Intuitive Surgical's database of performed surgeries is simply a veritable golden mine. And it continues to turn arsenic much surgeries are performed with da Vinci systems.

The logical endpoint is AI really performing country connected its own. That wouldn't beryllium a immense leap from wherever Intuitive Surgical is today. With a database of surgeries to enactment from, an AI strategy could person pertinent accusation astir a peculiar diligent uploaded to its system. Then the AI could get to work, performing the due country and adjusting arsenic needed, utilizing variations successful the database to usher it done real-time events circumstantial to each patient. That would mean world-class attraction could beryllium provided anyplace successful the satellite astatine immoderate clip of the time oregon night.

There are antithetic ways this indispensable country information could beryllium used. Intuitive Surgical could clasp the information and usage it exclusively. The institution could merchantability the data, helping to beforehand AI country much broadly. Or Intuitive Surgical could beryllium swallowed up by a exertion institution that wants the data.


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