Name: Smith+Nephew CORI Surgical System
Brand: Smith+Nephew

Who's exposed

Jobs in the threat radius

orthopaedic first assistant
orthopaedic surgical technologist
implant company case-support representative

Deployment status

Shipping since July 2020. Smith+Nephew's 2025 results report more than 1,100 CORI systems installed worldwide at the end of 2025 and say about 36% of its US knee implants are now placed using CORI, with US knee implant growth significantly higher in CORI accounts than in non-CORI accounts. The company also reports growing placement in ambulatory surgery centers and teaching institutions. All of these are company-reported figures; we found no independent unit count, so the scale rests on a manufacturer filing. The Robot Report's launch coverage independently confirms the product, its FDA 510(k) clearance and its knee scope. The 2025 results also mention pre-operative planning services for shoulder replacement. We could not confirm a hip indication from a primary source and make no hip claim.

When this hits the labor market

1-3 years: the surgeon stays in control, so the near-term exposure sits in supporting roles. Where a handheld robot sets implant position and gap balance from patient-specific anatomy, the first assistant and the technologist who runs navigation and instruments have less to do, and that matters most in ambulatory surgery centers that staff lean. 3-5 years: as the installed base grows past 1,100 and rivals Stryker, Zimmer and others compete on the same outpatient knee, the narrowing skill gap between high-volume and average surgeons becomes the real story, because it removes one of the reasons a patient travels to a particular surgeon. Case-support representatives for implant makers are the third exposed group; that is our inference, not a claim Smith+Nephew has made.

A handheld robot built for the outpatient knee

Most surgical robots in this catalog are cart-sized machines that live in a hospital operating room. Smith+Nephew’s CORI is a handheld bone-milling tool with a camera and planning software, and it was built from the start for ambulatory surgery centers, where knee replacement is moving. It launched July 14, 2020 with FDA 510(k) clearance and covers total and unicompartmental knee replacement. Against the company’s earlier NAVIO system, Smith+Nephew says the camera is more than four times faster and the cutting volume doubles.

What the numbers say

The 2025 results put the installed base at more than 1,100 systems worldwide and say about 36% of US knee implants now go in with CORI. US knee implant growth runs significantly higher in CORI accounts than in the rest. Those are the company’s numbers, and we found no independent count. For a cohort point: Intuitive reported 11,710 da Vinci systems installed at June 30, 2026. CORI’s base is roughly a tenth of that, in a far narrower set of procedures. The same results mention pre-operative planning for shoulder replacement, so the platform is being stretched past the knee.

What it threatens, and what it does not

CORI does not replace the orthopaedic surgeon, and nothing we found says it will. The surgeon holds the tool. What changes is who else has to be in the room and how much hand skill the cut demands. The system places the implant and balances gaps from the patient’s own anatomy, which narrows the distance between a high-volume surgeon and an average one.

The exposure we see is in the supporting roles: the first assistant, the technologist who runs navigation and instrument trays, and the implant maker’s case-support representative. That last one is our inference. Smith+Nephew has not said it.

Why we track it

Robot-assisted knee replacement is a share fight between Stryker’s Mako, Zimmer’s ROSA and Smith+Nephew. Mako and ROSA are already in this catalog. CORI is the portable, lower-capital option, and that profile is the one that spreads into surgery centers. Two things to watch: how fast the installed base moves past 1,100, and whether a hip claim ever appears in the company’s own materials.