5 Robotics Leaders Powering Surgery & Automation

​​What started as mechanical arms building cars has evolved into a massive $72 billion industry that’s racing toward $282 billion by 2032. That’s 14.7% growth every single year for a decade.

Source: Precedence Research

Robots have been around since the 1980s, mostly stuck in manufacturing plants. But now they are breaking free, as they perform heart surgery, deliver packages, run warehouses, and work alongside humans.

The difference lies in the economics. Robot costs are finally dropping while their capabilities are skyrocketing. Automated factories are popping up everywhere, and it’s not just about building cars anymore.

Behind this boom are companies that saw the early potential in the robotics space and are now at the forefront of this lucrative market.

Top 5 Robotics Stocks

1. Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +2.77%)

The medical technology company, Intuitive Surgical, leads in robotic surgery with its da Vinci platform that takes a minimally invasive approach.

The robotic-assisted surgery system enables surgeons to perform various procedures, including general surgery, cardiothoracic, gynecologic, urologic, and head and neck specialties. It consists of a surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart, and a high-performance vision system. 

Intuitive Surgical has established a moat in the space, with 1,200 robots having performed over 10 million surgeries while recording strong recurring revenue and expanding into new medical applications.

As of June 30, 2025, the California-headquartered company’s installed base of da Vinci has grown to 10,488 systems worldwide, increasing by 14% in a year.

Amidst this growth, the company has launched its new robotic surgery system, the da Vinci 5, featuring more than 150 design innovations, advanced data analytics, and 10,000x the computing power to offer surgeons even greater autonomy.

Recently, it obtained regulatory clearance in Japan for all surgical specialties and secured European certification for adult and pediatric use in various minimally invasive procedures.

Besides da Vinci, Intuitive has another robotic-assisted platform called the Ion endoluminal system, which consists of a system cart, a controller, a catheter, and a vision probe. Its commercial offerings include diagnostic and endoluminal procedures.

A believer in a technology-enabled future of care, Intuitive sees tremendous potential in harnessing innovations in not just robotics but also artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced visualization to assist surgeons, physicians, and care teams in revolutionizing healthcare. 

Now, Intuitive is a publicly-traded company whose shares, as of writing, are trading at $450, which puts its market capitalization at $160.5 billion. So far, in 2025, ISRG shares have lost 14.22% of their value. However, it was just early in the year that ISRG shares hit a peak at $616. Intuitive Surgical’s stock prices have been up more than 143% in the past three years.

Meanwhile, the company has a trailing twelve-month (TTM) earnings per share (EPS) of 6.82 and a TTM price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 65.67.

Financially, Intuitive Surgical has reported a revenue of $2.44 billion for its most recent Q2 2025. This marked a 21% increase from 2Q24. During this period, its GAAP net income was $658 million, or $1.81 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income was $798 million, or $2.19 per diluted share.

The company ended the quarter with $9.53 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.

Click here for a list of top robotics surgery stocks.

2. Fanuc Corporation (FANUY)

Japan-based Fanuc dominates the manufacturing sector, with its robots playing a critical role in enhancing efficiency and precision. Despite the ongoing weakness, Fanuc remains well-positioned with its ultra-precise tools and strong presence in key markets, such as China and the US.

It leads the global industrial robotics market with its computer numerical control (CNC) systems, which, along with laser products, are sold through its factory automation (FA) division.

This year, the company released several new products, including the Smart Digital Twin Manager, the M-800 robot with a larger operating space and higher machining load capacity, and larger versions of its small and mid-size handling robots. These products aim to address labor shortage problems and improve productivity in the food and electronics industries.

With a market cap of $26.7 bln, Fanuc (FANUY:OTCQB) shares are currently trading at $14.75, up 13.11% year-to-date (YTD). 

FANUY share prices have been struggling these past couple of years, with its 52-week range stuck between $10.54 and $15.65. Also, it was back in early 2018 that the stock price made an all-time high (ATH) at almost 6,000 JPY.

The company shares aren’t available on a major exchange but rather on the OTC (over-the-counter) market, where securities are traded directly by a network of dealers. The OTCQB marketplace, where Fanuc shares are available, is a mid-level OTC equity market that mainly features early-stage companies.

When it comes to Fanuc’s financial positioning, it has been showing a lack of strength, with its total net assets being slightly down at ¥1,726,044 million ($11.69 mln) at the end of the most recent quarter. 

For the three months ended June 30, 2025, the company reported net sales of ¥196,363 million but noted strong demand for its robots worldwide. 

In the FA Division, firm demand from India and China helped increase sales of its CNC systems, which offset weak demand in Japan and Europe. In the ROBOT Division, Fanuc reported a significant increase in sales in China, driven by strong demand from the EV-related and general industries. In contrast, sales in Japan, Europe, and the Americas decreased due to a slowdown in automobile-related industries.

In the ROBOMACHINE Division, sales of its compact machining centers (ROBODRILLs) increased thanks to rising demand in India’s IT-related market, sales of electric injection molding machines (ROBOSHOTs) declined due to a decrease in demand in China, and sales of wire electrical discharge machines (ROBOCUTs) increased due to firm demand in India, Europe, and the Americas.

3. Hyundai Motor Company (HYMTF)

The Korea-based automobile giant isn’t developing robots on its own, but doing so through the most recognizable name in advanced robotics, Boston Dynamics.

A spin-off from MIT, Boston Dynamics has been in existence for over three decades now, and during this period, it has demonstrated its robotic prowess numerous times. 

A few years ago, the robotics design company showcased its humanoid robot, Atlas, in action, running around and picking up planks in a simulated construction site. Its latest demonstration video, while less visually exciting than that, is actually key to ensuring that humanoid robots can perform tasks consistently and safely over the long term.

“We believe that building AI generalist robots is the most viable path to creating these competencies and achieving automation at scale with humanoids,” said the team. For this, they are developing LLMs for Atlas to enable the robot to accomplish long-horizon manipulation tasks. According to its founder, Marc Raibert, this can help robots gain more independence.

Boston Dynamics is also known for the quadrupedal robot BigDog, which was initially developed for the U.S. military with funding from DARPA, but was later discontinued.

Interestingly, before Hyundai acquired Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021, the robotics company was owned by Google, which had acquired it in 2013. Google sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank in 2017. Last year, the robotics company had to cut down its staff to manage cash flow and focus on profitability.

While known for tackling some of the toughest robotics challenges, Boston Dynamics has struggled to find commercial applications for its technology. But that may finally change this year, as Hyundai has announced plans to deploy tens of thousands of Atlas robots at its manufacturing and logistics locations.

Hyundai Motor itself is involved in the manufacturing and sale of small and large commercial vehicles, passenger cars, RVs, EVs, hybrid EVs, and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). It also develops autonomous driving software and provides automotive maintenance services.

As of writing, Hyundai Motor (HYMTF:OTCPK) shares are trading at $87.20, which gives it a market cap of $39.8 billion. As of the trailing twelve months, the company reports an EPS of 32.38, a P/E ratio of 2.69, and a strong dividend yield of 10.74%.

For Q2 2025, Hyundai Motor reported a mere 0.8% YoY increase in its global wholesale sales at 1.07 million units. However, EV sales growth was much higher at 33.9%YoY, and the sales of hybrid vehicles jumped even more, 38.5% YoY. Hyundai Motor actually made record-high sales of hybrid models at 170,000 units, which accounts for 15.8% of total sales.

The company’s consolidated revenue for the quarter was KRW48.3 trillion ($34.6 bln), operating income was KRW3.6 trillion ($2.58 bln), and net income came in at KRW3.3 trillion ($2.38 bln).

So, while Hyundai has the finances and automotive expertise, Boston Dynamics has cutting-edge robotics tech, and together they are strongly positioned for the future of automation.

4. Teradyne (TER +0.75%) 

Initially just a semiconductor test equipment supplier, Teradyne has shifted its focus deeper into robotics and industrial automation. As a result, it benefits from robotics and AI growth as well as the digitalization trend through its testing equipment. 

Teradyne’s robotics delivery segment mainly involves Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), which allow businesses to optimize their manufacturing processes, thus improving product quality and increasing productivity.

Last year, it partnered with Nvidia (NVDA -0.32%) to bring new AI capabilities to automation applications. Its MiR1200 Pallet Jack, which is developed to handle palletized goods, is backed by NVIDIA-powered AI. At the NVIDIA GTC 20205, it also revealed its AI-driven robotics solutions, marking the first demonstration of the AI Accelerator in commercially viable applications.

AI accelerators are fast becoming a key part of the company’s strategic growth, with CEO Greg Smith expecting artificial intelligence to drive strong performance in the second half of this year.

In the second quarter of 2025, meanwhile, Teradyne reported a revenue of $652 million. This includes $492 million in Semiconductor Test, $85 million in Product Test, and $75 million in Robotics. Its GAAP net income was $78.4 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income was $91.6 million, or $0.57 per diluted share.

Its robotics sales went down 17% YoY in a weak market, but it was up 9% QoQ. The company also secured a “plan of record” decision from a large customer.

The System-on-a-Chip (SOC) was revealed to be the “strongest growth driver” with demand in compute, networking, and memory reported to be “strengthening”.

As for market performance, Teradyne (TER:NASDAQ) shares have increased by 6.96% this year, trading at around $135. In April, TER stock prices fell below $66, in line with the broader stock market, but are now back at their 52-week range high of $144, not far from the peak of $ 168.90 that was reached in late 2021.

The company offers an EPS (TTM) of 2.88, a P/E (TTM) of 46.72, and a dividend yield of 0.36%.

5. AutoStore Holdings (AUTO.OL)

In the world of modern logistics, AutoStore has been making a lot of strides with its warehouse automation robots. The Norway-based robotic and software technology company develops order-fulfillment solutions to help businesses achieve efficiency gains in good storage and retrieval. 

For this, AutoStore pioneered cubic storage automation, developing a high-density, bin-based automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) that uses robots to bring goods to human workers for picking. Thousands of robots have been deployed at hundreds of sites worldwide.

It has been described as “the densest storage technology,” which allows users to store four times the inventory in the same space. AutoStore counts Best Buy, Siemens, Medline, Benetton, Puma, Asda, and others among its clients.

In 2021, SoftBank acquired a 40% stake in the warehouse automation firm for $2.8 billion, which valued AutoStore at $7.7 billion.

Seeing AutoStore as a foundational technology for rapid and cost-effective logistics, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said at the time that they’ll help “aggressively expand across end markets and geographies.”

With a market cap of 3.13 bln NOK, AutoStore (AUTO-NO:Oslo Stock Exchange) share prices are trading at 9.64 NOK, about in the middle of its 52-week range of 4.60 and 13.18. Its EPS (TTM) is 0.24, and the P/E (TTM) is 40.93.

As for financials, the company reported revenue of $134 million in Q2 2025, up 56% QoQ but down 13% YoY, while order intake was $150 million, increased by 6% both QoQ and YoY.

Its gross margin (68.8%) was impacted by a one-time write-down of $8.5 million worth of inventory for ending the B1 Robot business line. This was done in alignment with the company’s commercial strategy so that AutoStore can focus on more advanced solutions that deliver better value for customers, such as enhancements made to the R5 Robot and Router Software.

The company is “confident” in the long-term potential of warehouse automation, noting the mere 20% market penetration of AS/RS. The runway for growth is clearly significant, and AutoStore CEO Mats Hovland Vikse believes they’re “well-positioned to capture it.”

Conclusion

The robotics boom is creating clear winners and losers. Companies like Intuitive Surgical have already built billion-dollar businesses around robot-assisted surgery, while Hyundai is betting big that factory robots will finally live up to decades of hype. In fact, old-school companies, such as Japan’s Fanuc, are in the race, too, despite facing several challenges.

As for what is driving this shift, it’s more than just better technology. It’s simple math. Robots don’t get sick, don’t demand raises, and work around the clock. And as labor gets expensive, that equation becomes harder to ignore.

So, the robot economy isn’t coming anymore. It’s here, and the companies that figured it out first are profiting significantly more than those who will join later.

Click here to learn how nanobots will change future medical procedures.