Buying guide
Versius vs da Vinci (and Ion) vs Hugo RAS in 2026
Comparing 3 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | CMR Surgical | Intuitive Surgical | Medtronic |
| Form factor | surgical | surgical | surgical |
| Maturity | commercial | production | commercial |
| Autonomy | ◐ not independently verified | ◐ not independently verified | ◐ not independently verified |
| Availability | internal-onlyenterprise | internal-onlyenterprise | internal-onlyenterprise |
| Price | $750,000-$1,000,000 (analyst estimate) | $1,800,000-$2,500,000 (analyst estimate) or $1,500,000-$2,500,000 (actual sale price) | Not announced |
| Capability claims |
|
|
|
| Brain | — | — | — |
| Verified deployments | 2India, United Kingdom | 7 | 3 |
| Privacy practices | — | — | — |
| Sources on file | 21 | 23 | 16 |
Editorial summaries
Versius
CMR Surgical's Versius (and Versius Plus) is a modular, multi-arm, soft-tissue minimal-access surgical robot from UK-based CMR Surgical, and the international-soft-tissue archetype of DEPLOY's surgical cluster. Its modular multi-arm architecture is a deliberate contrast to the monolithic design of Intuitive's da Vinci: it is teleoperated and software-driven, capturing telematic, video, and outcome data. On regulatory status (a correction worth recording): Versius is US-FDA-cleared for cholecystectomy via a De Novo authorization in October 2024, with Versius Plus cleared via 510(k) on December 18, 2025 (also cholecystectomy) and a gynecology 510(k) submitted April 29, 2026 (pending); it is not broadly 'US-pending', only the gynecology indication is. It is CE-marked and commercial across Europe, Latin America, AMEA, and Australia. As enterprise B2B surgical equipment sold to hospitals, there is no consumer price.
da Vinci (and Ion)
Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci is the gold-standard surgical robot and the verified-at-scale anchor of the category. Per Intuitive's SEC filings, 11,395 da Vinci systems and 1,041 Ion endoluminal systems are installed. The lineup spans da Vinci multi-port (X/Xi), the single-port SP, and the fifth-generation da Vinci 5 (FDA cleared March 2024, with force feedback), plus the Ion bronchoscopy robot (FDA 2019). It is teleoperated, a surgeon controls every motion, with shipped analytics AI; autonomous-suturing work exists only as research demos on da Vinci hardware, not as shipped product. It is enterprise B2B equipment sold to hospitals at multi-million-dollar per-system prices; there is no consumer price.
Hugo RAS
Medtronic's Hugo RAS is a modular, multi-port teleoperated robotic-assisted-surgery system and the main commercial competitor to Intuitive's da Vinci. It is CE-marked in Europe (urology and gynecology, October 2021) and US FDA-cleared for urology only (December 2025: prostatectomy, nephrectomy, cystectomy); US general-surgery and gynecology indications are planned but not yet cleared. It is teleoperated with no shipped intraoperative AI. Medtronic does not disclose a Hugo installed-base count, so DEPLOY records honest absence rather than an invented number. It is enterprise B2B equipment; there is no consumer price.
Common questions
- What is the difference between Versius, da Vinci (and Ion), and Hugo RAS?
- Versius, da Vinci (and Ion), and Hugo RAS are all surgical robots on the DEPLOY registry. They differ in maker, maturity, price, verified deployments, and how much of their autonomy is independently verified. See the table above for the full head-to-head; each figure is sourced.
Recent coverage
- Medtronic to unveil Touch Surgery Aide compute platform at SRS 2026Hugo RAS · AgentRecon · 2026-07-21
- Pacemaker manufacturer Medtronic warns patients cybercrooks may have swiped health dataHugo RAS · The Register · 2026-07-02
- Intuitive Surgical Stock Is Up Over 400%. Here's Why It's Still a No-Brainer Buy. - The Motley Foolda Vinci (and Ion) · Google News · 2026-06-27
- Intuitive Surgical Stock Is Up Over 400%. Here's Why It's Still a No-Brainer Buy. - Yahoo Financeda Vinci (and Ion) · Google News · 2026-06-27
- CMR Surgical secures 510k clearance of Versius Plus robotic surgical systemVersius · AgentRecon · 2026-06-09
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