AN-014 Company lists · list
Top Medical and Surgical Robotics Companies
Top medical robotics companies in the HardwareMap index, ranked by shipping evidence, plus the surgical robot incumbents a startup index leaves out.
by the HardwareMap editors3 min read
From the HardwareMap index, REV 26.09, refreshed 8 Oct 2026
Contents
The top medical robotics companies in the HardwareMap index number 4 as of REV 26.09: rehabilitation, lab automation, hospital logistics and neurosurgery. Ranking rule: shipping to paying customers first, then disclosed capital raised. The surgical robot leaders are incumbents, covered separately below. This list sits under top robotics companies.
Four is a short list, and that is the honest count. The index lists startups with a product, a public source and an operating team. Most surgical robots come from companies that are decades old or are divisions of medical device giants, so they sit outside the table.
How we rank the top medical robotics companies
- Shipping. Robots in use at paying hospitals, labs or clinics.
- Clinical. Devices in human trials, not yet on the market.
- Pre-clinical. Prototypes and animal work.
Inside a tier, disclosed capital raised sorts the order. Neuralink has the largest disclosed raise of the four, but its implant is still in trials, so it ranks last by this rule. The same tiers run the top robotics companies list.
Medical robotics companies in the index
Fourier Intelligence (Shanghai) started with rehabilitation robots and exoskeletons for clinics and has since added the GR series of humanoids (Fourier). It raised a roughly $109 million Series E in January 2025. It also appears on the humanoid robots list.
Opentrons (New York) grew out of the Brooklyn community lab Genspace. It sells the OT-2 and Flex, benchtop pipetting robots that scientists program in Python, at prices well below traditional liquid handlers. These are research tools, not cleared medical devices.
Diligent Robotics (Austin) builds Moxi, a mobile robot with an arm that runs supplies, lab samples and medications for nurses. When Serve Robotics completed its acquisition of Diligent in January 2026, Moxi was deployed in more than 25 US hospitals and had made more than 1.25 million autonomous deliveries (Serve Robotics, Jan 2026). The datasheet now shows status Acquired.
Neuralink (Fremont) is a brain-computer interface company, but robotics is central to it: its Telepathy implant's flexible threads are inserted by a custom surgical robot. The implant is in human trials with people who have paralysis (Neuralink). Clinical tier.
Surgical robotics companies outside the index
These are the names most buyers mean by surgical robotics. None is a startup, so none is an index entry.
Intuitive's installed base is the number every challenger is measured against. Medtronic and CMR are years behind on US units, and both entered through a single indication before widening.
Medical robotics segments, and where startups fit
Medical robotics is five markets with different buyers, not one.
- Surgical systems. Bought by hospital capital committees, cleared by the FDA per indication, dominated by incumbents. The index has no surgical robot startup yet.
- Neurosurgery and implants. Robots that place devices, as at Neuralink. Here the robot is a tool inside a larger clinical product.
- Rehabilitation and exoskeletons. Sold to clinics and rehab centers. Fourier is the index entry.
- Lab automation. Sold to research and diagnostic labs, often without device clearance. Opentrons is the index entry.
- Hospital logistics. Robots that move supplies, not patients. Moxi is the index entry.
Startups have shipped fastest in the last three, where the robot does not touch a patient and the regulatory path is shorter or absent. The surgical segment has the largest revenue but the longest path to it.
What the top medical robotics companies share
- One indication first. Hugo entered the US through urology; Versius through gallbladder removal; Moxi through supply runs. Narrow claims shorten the regulatory path.
- Recurring revenue around the robot. Surgical systems earn on instruments and service per procedure. Service robots are often sold as a subscription instead, the model covered in robotics-as-a-service companies.
- A regulated build. Patient-facing robots are medical devices under FDA rules, built under a quality system. Most are made by contract manufacturers certified to ISO 13485; see medical device contract manufacturers and hardware certifications. Confirm the pathway for a specific device with regulatory counsel and the FDA.
Frequently asked questions
What are the top surgical robotics companies?
By installed base, Intuitive leads with its da Vinci systems, about 11,710 installed as of June 2026 by its own count. Medtronic's Hugo received FDA clearance for urologic procedures in December 2025, and CMR Surgical's Versius received FDA De Novo authorization for gallbladder removal in October 2024. These are incumbents or late-stage companies, so the HardwareMap startup index does not list them.
Which medical robotics startups are in the HardwareMap index?
Four, as of REV 26.09: Fourier, which builds rehabilitation robots and exoskeletons in Shanghai; Opentrons, which sells liquid-handling lab robots; Diligent Robotics, maker of the Moxi hospital robot, acquired by Serve Robotics in January 2026; and Neuralink, whose brain implant is placed by a custom surgical robot. The count is small because most surgical robot makers are not startups.
How are medical robots regulated in the United States?
Surgical and patient-facing robots are medical devices, regulated by the FDA. Most reach market through 510(k) clearance or a De Novo request, and some need premarket approval. Lab robots used for research are usually not cleared devices. The right pathway depends on the device and its claims, so founders should confirm it with regulatory counsel and the FDA before building a test plan.
Why are hospital robots often sold as a service?
Hospitals buy against operating budgets that are easier to approve than capital purchases. A service contract bundles the robot, software, maintenance and support into a monthly fee, and the vendor carries uptime risk. The model is common across service robots in logistics and food production. Surgical systems are different: they are usually sold or leased as capital equipment, with recurring revenue from instruments and service.
What does it cost to build a medical robot?
More than a comparable industrial robot, mainly because of clinical evidence and quality systems. A company needs a quality management system, design controls, biocompatibility and electrical safety testing, and often a clinical study. Contract manufacturers with ISO 13485 certification build most of these devices. Timelines from prototype to clearance commonly run several years.
HardwareMap adds medical robotics startups as they ship. Open each datasheet above for hub, stage, raise and investors.
The index
All 219 startups, filterable by category, hub, stage and funding.