AI Surgical Platform Enables Real-Time Intraoperative Decision Support

Medtronic is presenting an early look at Touch Surgery Aide, an AI‑native surgical computing platform that powers the Touch Surgery ecosystem. The company will share the system at the Society of Robotic Surgery 2026 Annual Meeting in Florida from July 23–26. The ecosystem operates in more than 1,500 operating rooms worldwide and linking preoperative planning and training, intraoperative tele‑mentoring and tele‑proctoring, and AI‑powered postoperative insights.

Touch Surgery Aide incorporates NVIDIA’s accelerated computing infrastructure, leveraging Holoscan, CUDA, and TensorRT. The platform combines computer vision, multimodal artificial intelligence, and accelerated inference to process surgical video and procedural context in real time. It can run multiple AI applications simultaneously during live procedures, providing actionable insights, supporting case review, and helping inform continuous improvement in clinical decision‑making. It is designed to continuously learn and evolve.

Instrument Exit Point (IEP), the first real‑time AI application for robotic procedures from Medtronic, runs on Touch Surgery Aide for use with the Hugo robotic‑assisted surgery (RAS) system. IEP has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and provides a visual notification when select instruments move beyond the visible field of view during a robotic procedure. As an initial step in real‑time AI support, the platform is designed to expand into laparoscopic surgery over time.

The Hugo RAS system received FDA clearance in December 2025 for urologic surgical procedures in the United States. In June 2026, Medtronic announced 510(k) submissions to expand Hugo’s use into general and gynecologic specialties in the U.S. The system has been used in tens of thousands of procedures across more than 35 countries on six continents.

"Surgery is on the cusp of a generational shift, powered by AI and advanced compute," said George Murgatroyd, General Manager & Vice President, Digital Technologies within the Surgical business at Medtronic. "The Touch Surgery ecosystem, powered by Touch Surgery Aide, establishes a platform for a new generation of embedded connectivity, seamlessly integrating advanced capabilities into surgical workflows and reinforcing Medtronic's commitment to delivering the best possible care, for every patient, anywhere."

“Real-time AI marks a new frontier for healthcare — it is a fundamental evolution in how surgery is supported, moving from technology that assists the surgeon's hand to technology that helps teams work smarter, move faster, and deliver greater impact in the moment,” said Jim Peichel, Chief Technology Officer at Medtronic.