Powered and Robotic Stapling Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- One assignee holds 165 of 351 records while the fifth-ranked holds 25 and the tenth just 2 — a steep drop rather than an even spread.
- Filing held flat, not declining 2021 and 2024 both sit at 28 filings a year, a 0% span after a 2023 peak of 30 — the plateau reads as a stable, mature filing pace, not a retreat.
- Healthcare informatics classes now touch nearly a quarter of records G16H appears in 23.4% of the 351 records, alongside the 84.6% carrying core A61B surgical-device classes — sensing and data claims are layering onto the mechanical base.
Filing growth compares 2021 (28 records) with 2024 (28) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
What this landscape covers
This review covers 351 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine powered or robotic surgical stapler claims with control-and-sensing elements — clamp compression timing, motorized firing, articulation angle control, feedback sensing, cartridge recognition and reload compatibility. The search string pairs stapler hardware terms with these control concepts deliberately, so the dataset skews toward instruments where firing is electronically managed rather than purely mechanical.
Records are drawn from receiving offices led by the United States, the European Patent Office, Australia, WIPO's PCT route, Germany and Austria — a filing footprint consistent with instruments cleared first in large single markets before regional or PCT extension. Publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend undercounts true filing activity.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 351 records: filings by year, and the IPC subclasses those filings carry. Because a single record can carry more than one IPC class, the class shares below sum to well over 100% of the record total — that is expected, not a data error.
A plateau, not a decline
Annual filings ran from 17 in 2017 to a peak of 30 in 2023, then 2024 closed at 28 — identical to the 2021 figure, for a flat 0% three-year span. 2025 and 2026 show fewer records only because publication has not caught up with filing; they should not be read as a slowdown.
A61B carries the field, G16H is rising
A61B (diagnosis and surgery) appears in 84.6% of the 351 records, confirming this is fundamentally a mechanical-device dataset. G16H (healthcare informatics) reaches 23.4%, and smaller shares in G06F, G16Z, G06Q, G05D, G06M and G07C show software, computing and workflow-tracking claims accumulating around the core mechanism rather than replacing it.
Shares are the percentage of the 351 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Powered and Robotic Stapling with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about powered and robotic stapling and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
US20110062211A1 — System and method for non-contact electronic articulation sensing
A surgical instrument is disclosed. The instrument includes a handle portion, a body portion extending distally from the handle portion and defining a first longitudinal axis and an articulating tool assembly defining a second longitudinal axis and having a proximal end. The articulating tool assembly is disposed at a distal end of the body portion and is movable from a first position in which the second longitudinal axis is substantially aligned with the first longitudinal axis to at least a second position in which the second longitudinal axis is disposed at an angle with respect to the first longitudinal axis. The instrument also includes an articulation mechanism configured to articulate…Filed by Covidien LP, published 2011-03-17 — non-contact sensing of articulation angle sits close to the compulsory sensing terms used to build this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20090090763A1 | Powered surgical stapling device | 3,621 |
| 2 | US9943309B2 | Surgical instruments with articulatable end effectors and movable firing beam support arrangements | 2,425 |
| 3 | US9968355B2 | Surgical instruments with articulatable end effectors and improved firing beam support arrangements | 2,399 |
| 4 | US10004501B2 | Surgical instruments with improved closure arrangements | 2,371 |
| 5 | US20130214025A1 | Powered surgical stapling device | 2,226 |
| 6 | US7823760B2 | Powered surgical stapling device platform | 1,794 |
| 7 | US10245027B2 | Surgical instrument with an anvil that is selectively movable about a discrete non-movable axis relative to a… | 1,507 |
| 8 | US20160174972A1 | Surgical instrument with an anvil that is selectively movable about a discrete non-movable axis relative to a… | 1,497 |
| 9 | US8733614B2 | End effector identification by mechanical features | 1,470 |
| 10 | US8807414B2 | System and method for non-contact electronic articulation sensing | 1,386 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations — treat this table as a map of influence on later filings, not a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three findings drawn directly from the ranking, trend and citation data — read together they show a field with an entrenched leader, a stable filing rate and heavy reliance on a small set of foundational patents.
One assignee dominates the ranked field
The leading assignee holds 165 of the 351 records in scope, against 25 for the fifth-ranked entity and 2 for the tenth. That is a steep drop-off rather than a gradual one, and it means most of the mechanical firing and articulation claim space in this dataset has already been staked by a single filer.
A mature, steady filing rate
Filings peaked at 30 in 2023 and closed 2024 at 28 — exactly matching 2021. That flat span, not a decline, is the right read on recent activity; treat 2025-2026 figures as incomplete rather than as evidence of a cooling field.
Foundational patents still anchor the field
The most-cited record in scope, a powered surgical stapling device, carries 3,621 citations — several times the count on more recent articulation and firing-beam patents. New entrants should expect any powered-firing claim to be checked against this lineage first.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to powered and robotic stapling, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum sits now
The ranked field contains 10 assignees. Recent-year momentum is muted across the board — a pattern consistent with a mature core technology where filing has shifted from broad mechanism claims toward narrower sensing and workflow refinements.
The dominant filer holds the mechanical core
With 165 records, the leading assignee's position spans the compression, firing and articulation claims that most of the rest of the field must design around. Its recent-year filing count has fallen to zero, consistent with a portfolio built and now being defended rather than expanded.
A meaningful but smaller second tier
The fifth-ranked assignee's 25 records show real but narrower coverage, likely concentrated on specific sub-mechanisms rather than the full stapling stack. Momentum data shows one assignee at -75% year-on-year and another at -100%, pointing to portfolios that were built earlier and are not being actively refreshed.
Individual inventors close out the ranking
The tail of the ranking includes individually named inventors rather than corporations, several of whom co-appear on the same filings. The strongest co-assignee pairs in the dataset link exactly this group, suggesting small, tightly connected filing teams working specific niches.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Tyco Healthcare Group / Sherwood Services AG (Covidien affiliate) | 1 | -75% |
| Covidien LP | 0 | — |
| Aesculap, Inc. | 0 | — |
| REVMEDICA INC | 0 | -100% |
| ETHICON ENDO SURGERY LLC | 0 | — |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | 0 | — |
| VIOLA FR J | 0 | — |
| STELLON GENE A | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with an entrenched leader and a stable filing base — the open questions now are about specific claim boundaries and where narrower filings can still land.
Map the leader's claim boundaries
With 165 of 351 records held by one assignee, any new filing in clamp compression, motorized firing or articulation control needs a claim-by-claim comparison against that portfolio before drafting.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the informatics overlap
G16H healthcare-informatics classes now touch 23.4% of records, up from a purely mechanical base. Sensing and workflow-tracking claims layered onto stapling hardware are a growing filing pattern worth monitoring separately.
Set up a monitoring search in EurekaTest white space claims
Cartridge-recognition interoperability and non-contact articulation sensing show lighter coverage than the mechanical core. A narrowly drafted claim in either area may clear more easily than a broad firing-mechanism claim.
Run a novelty check in EurekaCommon questions on powered and robotic stapling patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 165 of the 351 records in scope, far ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 25 and the tenth at 2. That gap indicates the leader has staked much of the core mechanical firing and articulation claim space rather than the field being evenly split. Anyone drafting new claims in this area should expect to design around that portfolio first, since it is the most likely source of blocking prior art on compression, firing and articulation mechanisms.
Filings were flat over the most recent complete comparison, with 28 records in 2021 and 28 again in 2024, a 0% change across that span, after a peak of 30 in 2023. This should be read as a stable, mature filing pace rather than growth or decline. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower only because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so those years are still filling in and are not yet reliable indicators of a slowdown.
A61B, the core surgery and diagnosis classification, appears in 84.6% of the 351 records, confirming the field is grounded in physical surgical-device claims. G16H, healthcare informatics, reaches 23.4% of records, and smaller shares appear in electric digital data processing, specific-application computing, business-data processing and counting mechanisms. Because a record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total, reflecting sensing and software claims layered onto mechanical hardware.
US20110062211A1, filed by Covidien LP and published in 2011, covers a surgical instrument with an articulating tool assembly and a non-contact articulation-sensing mechanism that detects the angle between the instrument's body axis and the tool assembly's axis. It sits close to the sensing and articulation-angle terms used to build this dataset, meaning any new filing that senses articulation position without physical contact should be checked against it directly. It does not block mechanical firing or cartridge-recognition claims that fall outside its non-contact sensing approach, so those remain separate design questions.
The IPC data shows comparatively light coverage in areas like cartridge-recognition interoperability across reload types, workflow and usage-tracking informatics, and multi-firing feedback calibration, compared with the dense core mechanical claims under A61B. These adjacent branches sit close to the compulsory sensing and control terms used to build this dataset but are not yet as heavily claimed. A narrowly drafted claim addressing reload compatibility signalling or non-contact sensing refinements is more likely to clear existing art than a broad firing-mechanism claim.
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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.