Freiburg – – September 11, 2026 -- Intuitive Surgical has secured CE marking for Force Feedback instruments on its da Vinci 5 surgical system, clearing the technology for use across the European market alongside more than 100 additional system updates.
Force Feedback lets surgeons feel tissue resistance in real time
The instruments capture pressure, traction and lateral forces roughly 1,000 times per second, relaying them directly through the hand controllers on the da Vinci 5 console. A real-time force gauge, resembling a speedometer, displays the intensity of force applied to tissue during a procedure. Post-operatively, surgeons can review force data through Case Insights in the MyIntuitive+ platform to refine technique and reduce variability between cases.
Computing power jumps 10,000-fold over prior generation
The rollout is built on da Vinci 5's processing architecture, which Intuitive says delivers 10,000 times the computing power of its predecessor, the da Vinci Xi system. That capacity underpins the batch of system-wide updates now available to European hospitals and surgical teams.
Telepresence upgrade adds operating-room camera and live cursor
Intuitive Telepresence, which allows remote surgeons to observe and guide procedures in real time, now includes a camera covering the full operating room, a live cursor and improved audio. Intuitive positions the upgrade as a tool to scale surgical training across its global network of more than 101,000 surgeons trained on da Vinci systems.
Surgeons gain direct control over instrument release and multi-arm targeting
A new console-based control lets surgeons trigger removal of instruments or the endoscope themselves, reducing reliance on OR staff for instrument changes. Multi-arm targeting has also been extended to work with any number of docked arms, speeding case setup and enabling adjustments mid-procedure for multi-quadrant operations.
More than 21.8 million procedures performed on da Vinci systems worldwide
Intuitive counts over 11,700 da Vinci systems installed in hospitals globally, spanning the da Vinci X, da Vinci Xi and da Vinci SP platforms alongside the newest da Vinci 5 generation. Dirk Barten, Commercial President Europe at Intuitive, said the expanded feature set responds to pressure across European health systems to raise care quality while cutting overall costs and widening patient access.
Dr. Iman Jeddi, Senior Vice President and General Manager for da Vinci Platforms & Product Operations, said da Vinci 5 was designed from the outset as a platform for continuous feature releases, with data from video, instrument movement and force feedback feeding future AI-enabled capabilities.