Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices announced their intent to purchase Orthotaxy, a French company that has spent nearly a decade developing a robotic surgical platform for orthopedic procedures.

The major healthcare company isn’t being coy about their goals associated with the transaction. The corporate hope is that the acquisition of Orthotaxy will give J&J an entryway into a partial and total knee replacement that is poised to explode in the coming years.

ZDNet crunched the numbers, noting that the population of knee replacement patients is expected to soar into the millions annually in the next fifteen years. Assuming J&J is aiming for similar dominance in the knee replacement market that Intuitive Surgical has achieved in prostate surgery (ZDNet notes approximately 70 percent of radical prostatectomies are performed using Intuitive Surgical’s Da Vinci), it could be a staggering number of systems sold.

“Our goal is to bring to market a robotic-assisted surgery technology that is an integral part of a comprehensive orthopaedics platform, delivering value to patients, physicians, and healthcare providers across the episode of care,” Ciro Rӧmer, company group chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes division, noted in an official release announcing the purchase.

“The team at Orthotaxy has significant expertise and passion in developing this platform, and we aspire to bring to market a differentiated technology that helps improve clinical outcomes and increases patient satisfaction,” continued Rӧmer.

Orthotaxy’s technology is said to be in “early-stage development.”

The financial details of the acquisition were not announced.