Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is an American biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery, most notably with the da Vinci Surgical System.

SRI developed a prototype robotic surgical system that caught the interest of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was interested in the system for its potential to allow surgeons to operate remotely on soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

Freund negotiated an option to acquire SRI's intellectual property and incorporated a new company that he named Intuitive Surgical Devices, Inc. At that point Freund, Moll, and Robert Younge (also from Acuson) wrote the business plan for the company and raised its initial venture capital.

Early investors included the Mayfield Fund, Sierra Ventures, and Morgan Stanley.

[citation needed] The company refined the SRI System into a prototype known originally as "Lenny" (after Leonardo da Vinci), which was ready for testing in 1997.

After further testing, Intuitive Surgical began marketing this system in Europe in 1999, while awaiting FDA approval in the United States.

[6] Shortly before going public, Intuitive Surgical was sued for patent infringement by Computer Motion, Inc, its chief rival.

[14] In June 2018, Intuitive Surgical settled class action lawsuits against it for a payment of $43 million.

[18][19] In August of 2022, Rebotix v. Intuitive settled out of court shortly before trial was set to begin.