It's certainly a game changer for Intuitive's stock price.

I'm a surgeon, and I use the DaVinci. Yes, it's cool. But there remains a narrow range of things where it offers benefit (we can argue about how that's defined) over straight stick laparoscopy. You can basically break it down into:

• Procedures where laparoscopy has a steep learning curve, but robotics offer a potentially shorter learning curve making it more realistic for broad dissemination.
• Procedures where laparoscopy may be possible, but more complex cases are still challenging except for the most technically proficient. In these cases, robotic approaches may facilitate a minimally invasive approach.

There are harder to measure benefits related to ergonomics and surgeon perception of how the robot makes some things easier. But this doesn't always translate into a measurable patient benefit, while still carrying cost. The application of remote operation could eventually be interesting.