Although Intuitive Surgical dominates the robotic-assisted surgery market, there are a fleet of new contenders rushing to compete in the space. The upstarts are often trying to distinguish themselves by delivering devices requiring a lower initial financial investment or with features such as single-port access. On the latter front, Intuitive Surgical has gotten ahead of the competition with the da Vinci SP, which recently earned FDA clearance for several urological procedures.

The da Vinci SP is equipped with three multi-jointed, wristed instruments and the first fully wristed 3D HD camera to be included on a da Vinci system. The company boasts the instruments and camera emerge from one cannula. They are triangulated around the target anatomy in such a way as to keep the instruments clear of one another, avoiding the sort of tangles that can easily happen in a tight surgical area.

The da Vinci SP is officially cleared for radical prostatectomy, pyeloplasty, nephrectomy, and partial nephrectomy.

“The da Vinci SP is the latest in our integrated product family that shows our commitment to improving minimally invasive surgery with technology that can positively impact patient outcomes,” Intuitive Surgical CEO Gary Guthart said in a statement. “Our da Vinci SP compliments da Vinci X and Xi systems by enabling surgeons to access narrow workspaces while maintaining high quality vision, precision, and control that surgeons have come to trust from da Vinci systems.”

Company executives previously told Forbes they expect the da Vinci SP to have a major presence in ORs, forecasting 170,000 procedures performed annually with the system by 2025.

For now, though, Intuitive Surgical plans to roll out the da Vinci gradually. The company expects the first systems will ship to customers in the third quarter of 2018.