Intuitive Surgical, Inc. Competition

Intuitive Surgical gives an artistic flair to advanced surgical equipment. Employing haptics (the science of computer-aided touch sensitivity), the firm developed the da Vinci Surgical System, a combination of software, hardware, and optics that allows doctors to perform robotically aided surgery from a remote console. The da Vinci system reproduces the doctor's hand movements in real time, during minimally invasive surgery performed by tiny electromechanical arms and instruments. The company manufactures its systems and relies upon contract manufacturers to supply the instruments and accessories used with the systems.