Cornerstone Robotics and Medtronic Forge Strategic Partnership to Expand Global Market for Sentire® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot

News from Smart Medical Device NetworkRecently, global medical technology giant Medtronic and Chinese laparoscopic surgical robot company Cornerstone Robotics officially announced a deep strategic partnership. The total scale of this transaction is approximatelyUS$700 million, equivalent to approximately RMB 4.7 billion. Unlike the equity investments or full acquisitions commonly seen in the market, Medtronic did not acquire any equity stake in Cornerstone Robotics; instead, it secured the exclusive distribution rights for Cornerstone Robotics’ core product, the Sentire® laparoscopic surgical robot, in certain approved markets outside the United States.

This major strategic transaction, unbound by equity stakes, has rapidly drawn widespread attention across the global surgical robotics industry. From a market perspective, the core logic of this deal is essentially Medtronic using substantial capital to buy time, thereby quickly filling the gap in its product portfolio within the laparoscopic surgical robotics sector.

According to officially released information, Cornerstone Robotics’ founder, Guowei Ou, holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously worked at Intuitive Surgical, where he led the development of the da VinciSi’s software and control algorithms, along with the single-port surgical platform, preceded his tenure as a faculty member at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2019, he officially founded Cornerstone Robotics. Headquartered in Hong Kong, China, the company has established its R&D and manufacturing base in Shenzhen. Its investor lineup includes HK Investment Corporation, Qiming Venture Partners, Meituan DragonBall, Lilly Asia Ventures, and others, with Meituan DragonBall increasing its investment for three consecutive rounds.

Industry data shows that since its establishment, Cornerstone Robotics has cumulatively completedSix rounds of financing, totaling approximately RMB 3.226 billion; an oversubscribed financing round of around USD 200 million was completed in November 2025, following a Series C round of over RMB 500 million led by EQT in January 2025. The continued support from industrial capital has provided ample backing for the global registration and commercialization of its products.

According to Medtronic's official statement, following the strategic partnership, Cornerstone® The laparoscopic surgical robot will be co-marketed with Medtronic’s already-launched Hugo RAS system, creating a “Hugo-based, Sentire-expanded multi-port product portfolio.” Matt Anderson, Senior Vice President of Medtronic, publicly stated that the addition of the Cornerstone Robotics® laparoscopic surgical robot directly complements the capabilities of the Hugo RAS system, making Medtronic the only company globally to currently possess both complementary robotic surgery platforms.

Based on the implementation progress of the two flagship products from both parties, MedtronicThe Hugo RAS system received EU CE certification in October 2021 and obtained U.S. FDA approval on December 3, 2025. However, its approval in the U.S. market is currently limited to urological indications; an application to expand indications to general surgery (including hernia repair) and gynecology was submitted to the FDA only on June 3, 2026. To date, the Hugo RAS system has been deployed and used in 35 countries across six continents worldwide, with a cumulative surgical volume estimated to exceed 50,000 cases.

and Cornerstone Robotics' Siteng®The laparoscopic surgical robot received approval from China’s NMPA for market launch as early as September 2024, and subsequently obtained both EU CE certification and Singapore HSA certification in May 2026. It currently covers four major specialties—urology, general surgery, gynecology, and thoracic surgery—thereby forming a strong complementary fit with Hugo’s current indications.

However, against the backdrop of a still-low global penetration rate for surgical robots, Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci system has already iterated to its fifth generation, while Johnson & JohnsonWith new products such as OTTAVA rapidly catching up, partnering with the SiTeng® laparoscopic surgical robot, which has already secured market access approvals in multiple regions, represents Medtronic’s optimal strategy to fill its product gap in the shortest possible time.

The ultimate selection of Cornerstone Robotics for this collaboration stems primarily from the irreplaceability of its products, technology, team, and industrial layout. Siteng® The laparoscopic surgical robot is equipped with 600° flexible wristed robotic arms, a 27L ultra-large master console operating space, and a glasses-free 3D vision system. It features highly dexterous wristed multifunctional instruments and achieves millimeter-level precise manipulation through ultra-low latency technology, demonstrating outstanding clinical adaptability.

More critically, this product achieves full independent research and development across its mechanical structure, electronic systems, control software, and complex algorithms, with the proportion of self-developed and self-manufactured core components reaching99%, for Medtronic, the risks of technological dependence and supply chain disruption in subsequent collaborations are minimized.

In fact, Medtronic's current adoption ofThe “Strategic Investment + Commercial Collaboration” dual-binding model is becoming the mainstream choice for global medtech giants to engage with innovative Chinese medical device companies: rather than pursuing pure financial investments or full acquisitions, this approach allows Chinese device manufacturers to retain independent operational control while leveraging their mature products and proprietary technologies, whereas multinational corporations open up their global distribution networks, accumulated over decades.

Such cases have emerged intensively in the global medical device market over the past year:In September 2025, Johnson & Johnson Innovation led a $67 million Series D financing round for Ruilong Surgical. The two parties signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly promote the commercialization of Haishan Yi®, China’s first approved modular laparoscopic surgical robot, in selected regions across the country. In February 2025, Cordis entered into an agreement with Boma Medical to exclusively distribute its next-generation drug-coated peripheral balloon dilation catheter. In January 2026, Johnson & Johnson MedTech signed an upgraded strategic cooperation agreement with Changyida, with the global R&D team of Johnson & Johnson’s Neurovascular Business Unit taking the lead to jointly accelerate the global development and implementation of intracranial interventional solutions.

Similarly, the partnership between Cornerstone Robotics and Medtronic holds true industry significance in that it marks the first time“Distribution by Global Giants” Path Proven: Chinese surgical robotics companies are no longer simply shipping equipment to overseas markets for sale, but are directly integrating mature products with the global channels of multinational giants, achieving more efficient global market penetration.

Over the past few decades, the dominant logic in China’s medical device industry has been to introduce innovative products from overseas into the Chinese market for promotion and sales, and from this$700 Million Deal Marks a Fundamental Reversal in Industry Direction: An Increasing Number of Domestic Innovative Medical Device Companies, Equipped with Mature Products and Pre-secured Global Regulatory Approvals, Are Now Awaiting Multinational Giants to Proactively Bring Capital and Distribution Resources for Collaboration.

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