— Hugo RAS
— Versius / Versius Plus
— OTTAVA
— da Vinci 5
What's Inside
The Claim
Each system's autonomy or AI claim, quoted directly from the company's own announcement.
The Level
Where the system actually sits on the six-level Autonomy Ladder (L0–L5), based on who makes the decision and who executes it.
The Verdict
An assessment of how closely the marketing language and the actual ladder position line up.
A Comparative Summary
One table, all four systems, showing where each one sits on the ladder today — and how far that is from what the marketing implies.
Why the Ladder Matters
“Autonomous” gets applied to everything from a robot executing one preplanned cut to genuine independent decision-making. Those are not the same capability.
The six-level Autonomy Ladder, adapted from the framework robotics researchers proposed in Science Robotics, answers a precise question for each system: who makes the decision, for what subtask, and under what supervision.
Marketing copy rarely answers that question. This report does — for four of the most visible robotic systems in surgery right now.