Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Is Intuitive Surgical publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on Nasdaq under ticker ISRG and is in the S&P 500.

Who is the CEO of Intuitive Surgical?
Dave Rosa, who succeeded Gary Guthart in July 2025. Guthart remains Executive Chair.

What does the da Vinci system do?
It lets surgeons perform minimally invasive procedures by controlling robotic arms from a console, translating their hand movements into precise instrument motion.

How many da Vinci systems are installed?
More than 12,000 systems worldwide, with over 3.3 million procedures performed across platforms in 2025.

What is the Ion system?
Intuitive's robotic-assisted bronchoscopy platform for minimally invasive lung biopsy.

Fred Moll, Robert Younge, and John Freund founded Intuitive Surgical in 1995, commercializing robotic surgery research originally developed at SRI International for battlefield telepresence surgery funded by the US Army.

The first da Vinci system received FDA clearance in 2000, initially for cardiac then rapidly expanding into urology, gynecology, and general surgery. Prostatectomy adoption drove the first major growth wave; general and hernia surgery powered the second.

Gary Guthart, a former SRI engineer who joined Intuitive early, became CEO in 2010 and presided over the platform's expansion into a family: da Vinci X, Xi, single-port SP, and the fifth-generation da Vinci 5, launched in a limited US release in 2024 and rolled into full global launch through 2025. The Ion endoluminal system for robotic bronchoscopy launched in 2019.

In July 2025 Dave Rosa succeeded Guthart as CEO, with Guthart moving to Executive Chair. Rosa, previously chief strategy and growth officer, took over as competition from Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and CMR Surgical finally materialized after two decades of near-monopoly.

The company publishes an annual Corporate Impact Report covering patient access, product quality and safety, workforce, and environmental programs across manufacturing. Its clinical and quality systems operate under FDA and international medical device regulation.

Litigation history: Intuitive has periodically faced product liability suits over da Vinci surgical injuries and earlier FDA warning letters about reporting and manufacturing practices, all resolved or settled over the years without structural damage to the franchise.

Procedure cost scrutiny: Critics question whether robotic surgery's per-procedure cost premium delivers proportional outcomes benefit in all indications, a debate that resurfaces in payer and hospital budget discussions.