Endoscopic Device Surgical Robotics Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing has flattened, not grown. activity peaked at 58 families in 2023 after climbing from 18 in 2017, with 2022's 33 marking a midpoint that the following years did not clearly exceed.
- Momentum is cooling even among active filers. assignees with recent output are posting year-on-year declines of 78-100%, suggesting a pause in new filing rather than a rush to lock down positions.
- Co-filing is rare and concentrated. only five co-assignee pairs exist across 447 families, with one pairing filing together 28 times while most collaboration is a one-off.
What the patent record shows about endoscopic device surgical robotics
The dataset covers 447 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that sit at the intersection of endoscopy and surgical robotics, drawn from records classified under diagnostic and surgical instrument codes and filtered to robotic endoscope terminology. Filing rose steadily from 18 families in 2017 to a peak of 58 in 2023, but the climb was not linear: 2022 sat at 33, roughly the midpoint of that range, and later years have not clearly broken above the 2023 high. Because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, the most recent year in this trend understates true filing activity and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
The classification spread is telling on its own. Every record in the corpus carries an A61B code, the core diagnosis-and-surgery classification, but secondary codes fall off quickly: optical elements (G02B) appear in 44 families, body-fluid devices (A61M) in 32, and general manipulator or robotics classifications (B25J) in only 21. Image processing (G06T) and AI-based computing (G06N) trail further still, at 20 and 12 respectively. That distribution says the field is still defined largely by mechanical and optical endoscope architecture, with computational and manipulator-specific claims comprising a smaller, more recent layer.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below separate the timing question from the technology-mix question: when families were filed, and which secondary classifications they carry alongside the core A61B surgical code.
A rise to 2023, then a plateau
Annual family counts climbed from 18 in 2017 to a peak of 58 in 2023. The 2022 figure of 33 sits roughly at the midpoint of that climb, and the years since have not shown a decisive move above the 2023 peak — read together with the recent-year momentum data, this looks like a maturing filing cycle rather than an accelerating one.
A61B dominates; computation and manipulators are secondary layers
Every family in the set touches A61B (diagnosis and surgery). Optical systems (G02B, 44 families) and fluid-handling devices (A61M, 32) are the next-largest secondary classes, ahead of application-specific computing (G16Z, 28), general manipulators (B25J, 21), image processing (G06T, 20), healthcare informatics (G16H, 19) and AI-based computing (G06N, 12) — a distribution that puts mechanical and optical endoscope design well ahead of software and manipulator-specific claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 447 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Endoscopic Device Surgical Robotics with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about endoscopic device surgical robotics and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art anchoring this field
US20170332882A1 — An enhanced flexible robotic endoscopy apparatus (ENDOMASTER PTE LTD, 2017-11-23)
An enhanced flexible robotic endoscopy apparatus includes a main body and flexible elongate shaft. The main body comprises a proximal end, a distal end and a housing that extends to the proximal end and the housing comprises a plurality of surfaces and a plurality of insertion inlets which reside on at least one of the surface of the housing at the proximal end of the main body, through which a plurality of channels for endoscopy are accessible. Each of the insertion inlets has insertion axis corresponding thereto, along which flexible elongate assemblies are insertable, with the insertion axes of the insertion inlets being parallel to the central axis of the flexible elongate shaft at the pAbstract trimmed to the disclosed length; full claims are available in the source record.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20060178556A1 | Articulate and swapable endoscope for a surgical robot | 1,636 |
| 2 | US6835173B2 | Robotic endoscope | 1,568 |
| 3 | US6770027B2 | Robotic endoscope with wireless interface | 1,542 |
| 4 | US5662587A | Robotic endoscopy | 837 |
| 5 | US20150230697A1 | Flexible master – slave robotic endoscopy system | 819 |
| 6 | US5337732A | Robotic endoscopy | 565 |
| 7 | US6162171A | Robotic endoscope and an autonomous pipe robot for performing endoscopic procedures | 466 |
| 8 | US9727963B2 | Navigation of tubular networks | 434 |
| 9 | US20030065250A1 | Peristaltically Self-propelled endoscopic device | 363 |
| 10 | US9125556B2 | Robotic guided endoscope | 349 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat this table as a map of influential prior art, not a ranking of current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are put side by side: where filings concentrate by classification, how citation influence sits with older art, and how thin collaboration is across the field.
Manipulator-specific claims are still a minority
Every family in the set carries the core A61B surgical classification, but only 21 also carry B25J, the general manipulator and robotics code. That gap suggests most filings are framed as endoscope innovations first and robotic-manipulator innovations second, even where the hardware overlaps.
Influence sits with early filings
The most-cited record in the corpus, US20060178556A1, carries 1,636 citations, and the next four most-cited records are all pre-2016 filings. New entrants are building on architecture defined more than a decade ago, which is a sign of a settled core design rather than an open one.
Filing is overwhelmingly solo
Only five co-assignee pairs appear across the entire corpus, and the strongest of them — filing together 28 times — is an outlier rather than a pattern. Most organisations in this space patent independently, which limits how much can be read from partnership signals alone.
Recent activity is cooling across the board
Every assignee with measurable recent-year output — including firms that filed as recently as the latest year — shows a year-on-year decline, several of them to zero. That pattern, combined with the 2023 peak, points to a filing cycle that has already crested rather than one still accelerating.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to endoscopic device surgical robotics, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground
Filing activity concentrates among a small group of medical device and robotics specialists, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants behind them. Recent momentum has slowed even among the more active names.
EndoMaster and HOYA form the tightest cluster
The strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset pairs EndoMaster with HOYA at 28 joint filings, well ahead of any other pairing. A second EndoMaster-HOYA Group pairing at 6 filings suggests a sustained, structured collaboration rather than a one-off joint venture.
Active filers are still slowing down
Noah Medical Group and Neptune Medical both show filings in the latest tracked year, at 2 each, but both are down sharply year-on-year — 78% and 80% respectively. Being active is not the same as accelerating here.
Some long-standing filers have gone quiet
Intuitive Surgical, EndoMaster, HOYA and Auris Health all show zero filings in the latest tracked year in this dataset, with Auris Health's figure representing a full -100% year-on-year drop. That does not mean exit from the field, but it does mean the current filing pulse is coming from elsewhere.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Noah Medical Group | 2 | -78% |
| Neptune Medical | 2 | -80% |
| EndoMaster Pte Ltd | 0 | — |
| Intuitive Surgical Operations | 0 | — |
| HOYA Corporation | 0 | — |
| Auris Health | 0 | -100% |
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | — |
| Vicarious Surgical | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a field with a settled mechanical core and thinner activity in computation and manipulator-specific claims. Two directions follow from that.
Check freedom-to-operate against the cited core
The highest-cited records date from well before 2016 and still anchor the field's basic architecture. Any new flexible-endoscope design should be checked against that cluster before investing in claim drafting.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
AI-assisted navigation, manipulator-specific mechanisms and informatics integration all carry far fewer families than core A61B endoscope claims. That gap is where new filings face the least prior art density.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on endoscopic device surgical robotics patents
The corpus shows a small group of medical device and robotics specialists with sustained filing histories, including EndoMaster, HOYA, Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health, alongside more recent entrants like Noah Medical Group and Neptune Medical. EndoMaster and HOYA also stand out as the strongest co-filing pair in the dataset, with 28 joint filings. That said, several of the historically prominent names show zero filings in the most recent tracked year, so leadership by cumulative volume does not necessarily mean leadership in current activity.
Filing rose from 18 families in 2017 to a peak of 58 in 2023, but growth has flattened since. The 2022 figure of 33 sits roughly at the midpoint of that rise, and recent-year momentum data shows year-on-year declines of 78% to 100% among the assignees still filing. Because publication lags filing by around eighteen months, the very latest year in any such trend will always look weaker than it eventually turns out to be, but the broader pattern points to a maturing rather than accelerating filing cycle.
A61B, the core diagnosis-and-surgery classification, appears in all 447 families in this dataset, making it the baseline for any freedom-to-operate search in this space. Secondary classifications are much thinner: optical systems (G02B) appear in 44 families, body-fluid devices (A61M) in 32, and general manipulator or robotics claims (B25J) in only 21. That gap between the universal A61B classification and the much smaller B25J count suggests most filings are framed as endoscope innovations rather than general-purpose robotic manipulator innovations, even when the underlying hardware overlaps.
The classifications with the lowest representation relative to the core A61B code point to the least-crowded claim space: AI-based computing (G06N, 12 families), image processing (G06T, 20) and healthcare informatics (G16H, 19) are all comparatively thin. Manipulator-specific mechanisms under B25J are also under-represented relative to the 447-family core. These branches are worth a closer freedom-to-operate look precisely because fewer families currently occupy them, though thin coverage should be verified against the specific claim language rather than assumed from classification counts alone.
US20060178556A1, titled Articulate and swapable endoscope for a surgical robot, carries 1,636 citations in this corpus, the highest of any record tracked. Heavy citation inside a searched corpus is a signal of influence on the field's foundational architecture rather than a signal of current commercial relevance, since older records naturally accumulate more citing references over time. Newer filings should still be checked against it and the other top-cited records, since the core mechanical concepts they establish continue to anchor claim scope across the space.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.