Robotic-Assisted Surgery Expands: FDA Approves Medtronic Hugo, New AR System, and First Knee Surgeries in East Africa

Robotic-assisted surgery is expanding across specialties, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approving Medtronic's Hugo robotic-assisted surgery platform for urologic procedures, a new integrated robotic and augmented reality system demonstrating high precision in complex jaw surgery, and the first robotic-assisted knee replacements being performed in East and Central Africa.

In December 2025, the FDA approved Medtronic's Hugo platform for urologic procedures, including prostatectomy, nephrectomy, and cystectomy. Hospitals perform approximately 230,000 of these procedures annually in the United States. A couple of months later, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic used the system for the first time. The approval comes roughly 26 years after Intuitive Surgical received its first approval for the da Vinci system, which remains the market's flagship platform with 11,395 systems installed worldwide. Hugo is currently approved only for urologic procedures, while da Vinci performs urologic, gynecologic, and general surgery procedures. Medtronic has applied to expand Hugo to gynecologic and general surgeries. Hugo is available in more than 35 countries, and the company's CEO stated that procedure volumes are growing two to three times as fast as the market. Intuitive Surgical placed 431 da Vinci systems in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Robotic-assisted procedures currently account for just 5% of the world's surgeries, and researchers estimate the market could grow from $13.8 billion last year to $63.7 billion by 2035.

Researchers have developed an integrated system called RAMRS that combines robot-assisted osteotomy with augmented reality-guided reconstruction for maxillofacial surgery. The system uses an optical tracking system and a collaborative robotic arm to guide the bone saw, with a slotted jig constraining the saw blade to ensure precise angles and depths. A rotating-calipers-based compensation method reduces corner displacement by over 25% compared with conventional least-squares or constrained optimization. In evaluations on 25 fibula and 25 mandible specimens and 8 cadaver legs and 8 cadaver heads, RAMRS achieved a mean angular error of 3.19° and a centroid-distance error of 1.28 mm for fibula osteotomy, and a feature-point distance error of 1.18 mm with a volumetric error of 4.34% for mandible osteotomy. The final reconstructed mandible showed a condylar distance error of 1.38 mm and an angular error of 3.62°. The cadaver experiments confirmed accuracy remains within 2 mm even with soft tissue present. The research was published in Cyborg and Bionic Systems.

In December, Metropolitan Hospital in Nairobi performed robotic-assisted knee replacement surgery for the first time, with 59-year-old Christine Musonye among the first two patients. The technology, described as the first of its kind in East and Central Africa, uses a robotic arm to perform precise total or partial knee replacements. Musonye, who had battled arthritis for about six years, walked the same day after surgery and reported being pain-free at her first review. Osteoarthritis, a degenerative condition caused by gradual wear and tear of joint surfaces, is among the most common joint conditions affecting older adults.

Robotic-assisted surgery is being adopted across oncology and other specialties. According to the head of surgical oncology at Noble Hospitals and Research Centre, robotic platforms have enabled surgeons to perform highly complex cancer surgeries with superior precision, enhanced visualization, and greater dexterity, particularly in confined spaces such as the pelvis, chest, and deep abdominal cavity. In pelvic cancers, wrist-like articulation allows meticulous dissections, more complete tumor removal, and preservation of critical urinary and sexual functions. The head of bariatric surgery at Jupiter Hospital noted that every movement of the robotic system remains under the surgeon's control, and that the platforms offer tremor filtration, three-dimensional magnified visualization, and precise instrument control. Public hospitals are also adopting the technology; Sassoon General Hospital in Pune has integrated robotic-assisted surgery into clinical practice, with its head of general surgery stating that patients recover faster and experience fewer complications.