Stryker’s adoption of MAKO’s RIO (Robotic-arm Interactive Orthopedic) system could give the global medical supplier a competitive edge over other orthopedic implant makers if the company can win converts to robotic surgery by leveraging its own experience in selling capital equipment.

Stryker’s adoption of MAKO’s RIO (Robotic-arm Interactive Orthopedic) system could give the global medical supplier a competitive edge over other orthopedic implant makers if the company can win converts to robotic surgery by leveraging its own experience in selling capital equipment.

Market-leading orthopedic firms have mostly come up with incremental product updates in response to the growing tide of more technology-heavy upstarts. That is what makes Stryker’s $1.65 billion acquisition of MAKO Surgical stand out.

Robotic-controlled surgical tools – led by market leader MAKO Surgical Inc. – are beginning to take root in the knee surgery market, at least in partial knees. Perhaps the truest measure of the potential of this market is the growing competition that MAKO is facing: just over the past five months, Blue Belt Technologies and Stanmore Implants Worldwide received FDA approval for rival robotic surgical systems.