Intuitive and an ASC Focused Surgical Robot? What could it be like?
- Steve Bell
- Sep 2
- 1 min read

I recently made a video based upon multiple requests. I was asked "But how can you get an Intuitive da Vinci 5 into a small ASC.
My answer based upon pur physics is - "it's hard". You might end up knocking walls down - or have hight issues, or storage issues. Basically most large main frame robots with a bedside unit - tower - console might be too big for an ASC.
Plus all that horsepower may not be needed for a low acuity procedure. So what is the answer.
Well fisrt off - in large ASCs (and it is happening) the DV5 can fit and with the hand held camera you do technically get a 25% footprint reduction as you only now need the DV towerr in the room - and a damned good tower it is. And that tower is excellent also for lap cases.
But if they want to access the 80% rule - and get to the 80% of cases in ASCs - I think they need a very different solution. And well... judging by the patents in this video - I explain why I think they might have something "in the back room" ready to come out - if and when they need to.
Check out the video here where I explain my thesis.
These are just speculations by the author based on public patents and publicly available information. They are for conjecture and education only.