Take a different path from da Vinci: Nuvotec adopts the series-parallel hybrid five-arm configuration, eliminates the risk of pneumoperitoneum, extends the service life of instruments by 10 times, and advances the clinical registration process.
Five-arm surgical robot addresses minimally invasive pain points, Nuofutai is seeking a new round of financing
In August this year, at Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town, the nearly 5,000-square-meter headquarters, R&D and production base of Nuofutai Intelligent Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nuofutai") welcomed a group of investors. Two surgical experts operated a five-arm endoscopic surgical robot and successfully completed combined resection of the gallbladder, superficial liver tissue and kidney on experimental animals. As the world's first and only pneumoperitoneum-free real-time force feedback five-arm dual-control endoscopic surgical robot, this project is at the critical stage of transitioning from animal experiments to clinical registration, and a new round of financing has also been launched.
Penetration rate less than 1%, the 100-billion-yuan endoscopic surgery market awaits breakthroughs
According to data from Frost & Sullivan, the size of China's surgical robot market is expected to increase from 7.2 billion yuan to 102 billion yuan from 2024 to 2033, a roughly 14-fold increase in 9 years. Endoscopic surgical robots are the largest sub-scenario, accounting for more than half of the market share. However, market penetration is still in the early stage: in 2024, the penetration rate of endoscopic surgical robots in China's endoscopic surgeries was only 0.7%, while the figure in the United States reached 21.9% in the same period. The gap of about 30 times means huge incremental space.
Behind the gap are two realities. First, the endoscopic surgical robot market has long been dominated by imported products, with the unit price exceeding 15 million yuan. The high cost of consumables brought by the flexible transmission system further increases the burden on hospitals and patients, making it difficult for products to sink into a wider market. Second, mainstream products rely on carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum to create surgical space, which puts elderly patients and patients with cardiopulmonary insufficiency at risk of pneumoperitoneum complications, leaving some patients who could have benefited from minimally invasive surgery excluded from the operating room.
Policies are opening up channels for the industry. On January 20, 2026, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued the Guidelines for the Establishment of Medical Service Price Items for Surgical and Therapeutic Auxiliary Operations (Trial), creating a nationally unified charging path for auxiliary operations such as surgical robots. General industry analysis holds that with the unified charging standard and the gradual maturity of domestic product technologies, the endoscopic surgical robot industry will enter a period of rapid development in 2026.
Series-parallel hybrid five-arm configuration: a technical route different from the da Vinci system
The mainstream paradigm in the endoscopic surgical robot industry is the serial manipulator and wire drive technology adopted by Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system. Nuofutai has chosen another path: since 2016, the team led by its founder Bai Long has carried out technical research, and finally developed the original series-parallel hybrid rigid drive configuration, whose mechanical structure, kinematics, force feedback and control algorithm are all different from existing similar products.
The differentiated capabilities of the product are reflected in three aspects. The manipulator can simulate the flexible movements of the human wrist, with end operation accuracy reaching the millimeter level. Combined with a high-definition 3D field of view magnified 10 to 20 times, and filtering out the tremor of the doctor's hand, it can adapt to the complex anatomical structure of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The innovative dual console design supports simultaneous operation of five manipulators, allowing doctors to create surgical space through physical suspension, eliminating the risk of carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum, so that elderly patients and patients with cardiopulmonary insufficiency can also receive minimally invasive abdominal surgery. The rigid transmission system makes the service life of the instruments more than 10 times that of mainstream products, reducing the use cost from the source.
Clinical verification is advancing. In November 2025, the team led by Professor Xu Li from China-Japan Friendship Hospital used Nuofutai's five-arm endoscopic surgical robot to complete combined resection of liver and gallbladder on experimental animals, verifying its safety, accuracy and stability in complex combined abdominal surgeries. In August this year, the combined resection surgery observed on site by investors once again verified its clinical performance. At present, Nuofutai has laid out 75 core patents, the product has completed animal test verification and type inspection pre-evaluation, and it plans to complete GCP clinical enrollment by the end of 2026, and submit the registration application for Class III medical device in the second half of 2027.
Three rounds of financing completed, the new round of financing focuses on registration and clinical practice
The business model of surgical robots has been verified overseas. Taking Intuitive Surgical, the global leading enterprise, as the benchmark, the growth logic of endoscopic robots "driving consumables by equipment" is clear: in 2025, the revenue of Intuitive Surgical's instruments, accessories and services reached 7.6 billion US dollars, accounting for 75% of the company's total revenue. In 2024, the volume of robot-assisted endoscopic surgeries in the United States exceeded 1.8 million cases. Nuofutai positions its product as a domestic solution with lower consumable cost and higher accessibility.
In terms of team background, Bai Long, founder and chairman, holds a doctorate degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, and is currently a professor at the School of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering of Chongqing University. He has been deeply engaged in the field of medical and special application robots, and presided over a number of national, provincial and ministerial projects. The core technology of the company is based on 8 years of R&D accumulation, and the product has completely independent intellectual property rights.
Since its establishment in 2024, Nuofutai has completed three rounds of financing including angel round, Pre-A and Pre-A+, with investors covering market-oriented investment institutions, state-owned investment platforms, industrial capital and other types of entities. The company is located in Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town, was selected into the Chengdu Hard Technology Enterprise Poker Ranking, was awarded the title of 2026 National-level Science and Technology SME, and won the second prize in the start-up group of the cutting-edge biomedicine field in the 2025 Golden Panda Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. According to the team, the company plans to launch a new round of financing, continue to promote registration and clinical work, and cooperate with a number of tertiary A hospitals, striving to promote the application of this technology in clinical surgeries such as hepatobiliary surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, urology and gynecology within 2 to 3 years.
From animal experiments to registered clinical practice, Nuofutai is at the window on the eve of commercialization. With the superposition of policy, market and technology factors, whether this Chengdu-based enterprise can deliver a domestic success story in the 100-billion-yuan track is worthy of continuous attention.