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Overview of Medical Robots:
Currently, medical robots can be divided into four categories: surgical robots, auxiliary robots, rehabilitation robots, and service robots. The specific classification is as shown in the figure:
Source: Organized by the China Business Industry Research Institute
According to the “2023-2028 China Medical Robot Industry Analysis and Development Forecast Report” published by the China Business Industry Research Institute, the largest segment of the medical robot market in our country is rehabilitation robots, accounting for 47%, followed by auxiliary robots at 23%, and surgical robots and medical service robots at 17% and 13%, respectively.
Development History of Surgical Robots:
Surgical robots generally consist of a surgical control console, a surgical cart equipped with robotic arms, and an imaging system.
Surgeons sit at the surgical control console, viewing three-dimensional images of the surgical area transmitted by an endoscope placed inside the patient’s body, and control the movement of the robotic arms and the surgical instruments and endoscopes attached to them. The robotic arms simulate human arms, providing surgeons with a range of movements that mimic human wrist actions while filtering out human tremors.
Source: Company websites, Guolian Securities Research Institute
Classification of Surgical Robot Products:
Generally, from the perspective of clinical medical applications, surgical robots can mainly be classified into endoscopic surgical robots, orthopedic surgical robots, vascular surgical robots, natural orifice surgical robots, percutaneous puncture surgical robots, neurosurgical robots, and others.
Source: Toubao Research Institute
Surgical Robot Market Size:
According to Sullivan data, in 2020, the domestic surgical robot market size reached $430 million, with a compound annual growth rate of 35.7%; it is estimated to reach $3.84 billion by 2026, with a global compound annual growth rate of 26.2% from 2020 to 2026, and 44.3% domestically, exceeding the global rate of 18.1%. The domestic market has enormous potential. By 2026, the market size of endoscopic surgical robots is expected to reach $2.32 billion, and orthopedic surgical robots will reach $450 million. The specifics are as follows:
Chart: China Surgical Robot Market Size
Current Status of the Surgical Robot Industry:
China’s surgical robots started later than those in Europe and the United States. For more than a decade, the domestic surgical robot market has been monopolized by the Da Vinci surgical robot. (In 2022, the domestic installation volume of Da Vinci surgical robots was 55 units, with an average product price of about 23 million yuan. Compared to 59, 54, and 73 units installed from 2019 to 2021, Da Vinci’s sales growth began to slow in 2022.)
Endoscopic robots, represented by Da Vinci, are currently the most mainstream surgical robots with the widest clinical applications and the most mature commercialization, accounting for over 60% of the market; orthopedics is the second largest field, accounting for over 15%, represented by Stryker and other orthopedic surgical robots; other categories include vascular surgical robots, natural orifice surgical robots, and percutaneous puncture surgical robots, which have relatively small market applications.
Currently, there are six endoscopic surgical robots approved by the NMPA in China, and the overall number of approvals has been breaking through year by year.
The domestic surgical robot market shows a pattern of “one strong and many strong,” with domestic brands emerging. Intuitive Surgical (Da Vinci endoscopic surgical robot series) dominates, accounting for 67.52% of the domestic surgical robot sales in 2021 (as accounted for). Foreign brand sales totaled 1.385 billion, accounting for about 85.5% of the Chinese market. Domestic brands led by Tianzhihang have a total sales of 237 million, accounting for 14.6%, and a number of emerging innovative companies such as Microbot and Huake Precision have also emerged. The latest data shows that in the first half of 2023, the number of registered medical robot-related companies in China reached 15,786.
According to incomplete statistics, at least 15 surgical robots were approved in China in 2022, including 3 endoscopic surgical robots, 10 orthopedic surgical robots, and 2 neurosurgical robots.
According to the China Bidding Network, based on the bidding data published in the first half of 2023 (from January 1 to June 30), excluding consumables and services, the market share of domestic brands is 29.5%, while that of imported brands is 70.5%. Among them, endoscopic surgical robots account for about 70%, and orthopedic surgical robots account for about 18%, as detailed below:
Chart: Analysis of Surgical Robot Bidding Situation in H1 2023 Data Source: China Bidding Network
Current Financing Status of the Surgical Robot Industry:
In the past five years, the surgical robot industry has entered an explosive growth phase, with companies like Microbot and Tianzhihang going public, and many well-known companies have entered the commercialization and IPO application stages (Tianzhihang went public in 2020, with a market value exceeding 36 billion at one point, now 6.3 billion; Microbot went public in 2021, with a market value exceeding 60 billion at one point, now less than 18 billion), and with the capital market cooling in the past two years, surgical robot companies have also been affected, for example, commercialization issues have come under scrutiny.
Chart: Financing Quantity in the Surgical Robot Sector in Recent Years
Image Source: Eggshell Research Institute
Statistics of Surgical Robot Company Financing Since 2020
Enterprises, Technical Points, and Business Models Layout in the Surgical Robot Sector:
From the perspective of enterprises, there are currently four types of companies laying out surgical robots, as detailed below:
Chart: Four Types of Companies Layouting Surgical Robots Image Source: Eggshell Research Institute
Surgical robots have the characteristics of multidisciplinary integration and high technical barriers. Overall, the functional module distribution of surgical robots is as follows:
Chart: Functional Module Distribution of Surgical Robots Image Source: Eggshell Research Institute
The business model of surgical robot companies is mainly divided into three parts: system, service, and consumables. The system refers to the sale of the whole machine, i.e., the surgical robot itself, including hardware and software, which companies sell to hospitals at a one-time price; consumables refer to the instruments used in conjunction with the robot during surgery, such as the robotic arms, which are sold continuously to hospitals; services refer to services related to the sale of surgical robots, such as maintenance and training services for doctors, etc. In the short term, equipment sales are the main focus, while in the long term, consumables will become the main source of income.
