Medtronic unveils Touch Surgery Aide - the next-generation compute platform for the OR

Medtronic has presented its next-generation compute platform for the operating room. Touch Surgery Aide - an AI-native surgical computing platform that powers the Touch Surgery ecosystem - enables real-time artificial intelligence during procedures. Touch Surgery Aide was presented at the Society of Robotic Surgery (SRS) 2026 Annual Meeting in Florida.

Touch Surgery Aide and the Touch Surgery ecosystem

Built on years of experience, the Touch Surgery ecosystem brings insights to surgery, in more than 1,500 operating rooms worldwide. It connects the entire surgical journey: bridging pre-operative planning and training, intra-operative tele-mentoring and tele-proctoring, and AI-powered post-operative insights, simplifying workflows and extending access beyond individual ORs.

Touch Surgery Aide expands the Touch Surgery ecosystem with next-generation computing capabilities, enabling multimodal AI-driven support during surgery. This provides surgeons with access to actionable insights during procedures, supports case review and helps inform continuous improvement in clinical decision-making.

"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.

Hugo Robotic Assisted Surgery system console and Touch Surgery ecosystem with the next-generation compute platform Touch Surgery Aide

Touch Surgery Aide incorporates NVIDIA's accelerated computing infrastructure, leveraging the company's Holoscan, CUDA and TensorRT to deliver AI-powered insights in the moment, supporting surgical decision-making when it matters most. Touch Surgery Aide combines computer vision, multimodal AI and accelerated inference to process surgical video and procedural context in real time. This enables multiple AI applications to run simultaneously during a live procedure, processing and acting on surgical data in the moment. It brings intelligent, increasingly automated support in the OR and is designed to continuously learn and evolve.

Instrument Exit Point (IEP) is an AI application that runs on Touch Surgery Aide, for use with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. Using computer vision, IEP provides a visual notification when select instruments move beyond the visible field of view during a robotic procedure. As the first real-time AI application to run on Touch Surgery Aide, IEP represents an early step in bringing AI-enabled support into robotic surgery, with the platform designed to support expansion into laparoscopic surgery over time.

Medtronic continues to progress the capabilities of the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. In December 2025, the Hugo RAS system received FDA clearance for use in urologic surgical procedures, bringing a versatile robotic-assisted platform to US surgeons and health systems. In June 2026, Medtronic announced 510(k) submissions to expand the use of the Hugo RAS system into general and gynaecologic specialties in the US The Hugo RAS system continues to have a growing global impact and has been used in tens of thousands of procedures across more than 35 countries in six continents.

This is an early step in a broader effort to bring AI into more of what happens in the operating room. Over time, Medtronic expects the platform to support a growing range of real-time AI applications, connect with other Medtronic technologies in the OR, and turn the data from every case into insights for surgical teams and the hospitals they work in.

"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."