Frost & Sullivan has been invited to attend the Summit of the China Orthopaedic Digital Intelligence Alliance to share insights into the digital development trends of surgical robots empowered by AI

According to Zhang Chenyang, AI-enabled surgical robots have become the core focus for the "digitalization" upgrade of orthopaedics and even the entire surgical field. Whether they are multinational giants or domestic startups, they are viewing "AI + robots" as the next competitive high ground. Thanks to the many benefits brought by surgical robots to doctors and patients during clinical treatment, as well as the commercialization of surgical robots applied in different treatment areas, the historical market scale of surgical robots has shown a high-speed growth trend. From 2020 to 2024, the global and Chinese surgical robot market compound annual growth rates reached 26.3% and 23.8%, respectively; in the future, with more innovative robot categories being approved and policy-level encouragement and support, the proportion of the Chinese surgical robot market in the global market will continue to increase.

Zhang Chenyang pointed out that the industrial prospects of surgical robots are shaped by four major driving forces: policy, technology, prognostic advantages, and the expansion of applicable disease areas:

At the policy level, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of medical equipment industries proposed in December 2021 to accelerate breakthroughs in key technologies such as high-precision positioning and improve the performance level of surgical robots such as laparoscopic orthopaedic and dental digital implants; in January 2023, the "Robot + Application Action Implementation Plan" encouraged hospitals with conditions and needs to use robots for precise minimally invasive surgeries; in June 2025, the "Announcement on Issuing Measures to Optimize the Whole Lifecycle Supervision and Support for the Innovative Development of High-end Medical Devices" formulated classification guidance principles for surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, etc., and carried out research on the management attributes of artificial intelligence medical devices; in December 2025, the "Guidelines for Project Approval of Medical Service Price Items for Surgical and Therapeutic Assisted Operations" unified the project approval for "surgical robots" and "remote surgeries," promoting precise medicine to better serve patients and creating a continuous favorable environment. At the technical level, domestic manufacturers have continuously overcome research and development difficulties such as the stability of core components, the intelligent level of control systems, positioning accuracy, and intelligent interaction through structural improvements, image fusion, optimization of AI-assisted algorithms, and collaborative efforts among industry, academia, research institutions, and hospitals, breaking international patent barriers at relatively lower prices, achieving wide penetration in the domestic market, and planning global commercial layouts.

At the prognostic advantage level, robot-assisted surgery can complete operations in a precise and minimally invasive manner, significantly reducing patient blood loss, lowering the risk of postoperative complications, and accelerating recovery.

At the applicable disease area level, laparoscopic surgical robots, as the most mature sector, have been widely used in minimally invasive surgery of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. Orthopaedic surgical robots have gradually expanded from initial hip and knee joint replacements to sub-sectors such as spine, shoulder joint, and sports medicine, and emerging applications in neurosurgery, dentistry, etc. are also becoming increasingly popular.

Zhang Chenyang introduced that driven by the triple drivers of expanding clinical demand, technological iteration such as AI/3D printing, and continuous favorable policies and price project approval guidelines during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Chinese orthopaedic surgical robot market will increase from 800 million yuan in 2024 to 6.4 billion yuan in 2030, with a compound growth rate as high as 41.6% from 2024 to 2030; although the current penetration rate of robot-assisted knee/hip joint replacement is only about 0.1%, significantly lower than the US's 11.7% and 10.5%, with the acceleration of aging, the expansion of doctor gaps, the relaxation of medical insurance access, and product performance improvement, the penetration rates of knee and hip joint robots are expected to jump to 12.5% and 12.1% respectively in 2030, leaving huge room for domestic substitution.

AI, 3D printing,Optical navigationThe multi-technology integration of intraoperative force control will compress preoperative planning from 2 - 3 weeks to 3 - 5 minutes and promote surgery to leap towards precision, intelligence, and individualization; driven by this, the penetration rate of joint robots in China is expected to first jump from 0.1% in 2021 to 4.0% in 2025, and then reach 12.3% in 2030, corresponding to a compound growth rate of 147.8% from 2021 to 2025 and still maintaining 25.0% from 2025 to 2030. At the same time, robots standardize and visualize high-difficulty surgical procedures, significantly shortening the learning curve for grass-roots doctors. Manufacturers have accordingly launched a full-process digital orthopaedic solution covering "preoperative intelligent diagnosis - intraoperative precise navigation - postoperative rehabilitation follow-up," thereby simultaneously achieving an increase in penetration rate, accelerating doctor training, and reshaping the industry pattern.

Finally, Zhang Chenyang stated that Frost & Sullivan has servedmany benchmark enterprises such as minimally invasive robotsJingfeng, Shurui, Changmu Valley, and Huaruibo, covering Hong Kong stock market/Sci-tech innovation board IPOs, industrial mergers and acquisitions, overseas strategies, and valuation modeling. Looking ahead, Frost & Sullivan will continue to output industry insights, hoping to join hands with the industry to promote the globalization of Chinese "intelligent" orthopaedic robots.