How Peristaltic Pumps Are Enabling the Next Generation of Robotic Surgery

Surgical robotics gets talked about the way AI gets talked about in every other industry right now. It’s the thing everyone in medtech eventually brings up when the conversation turns to the future of surgery. As robotic-assisted procedures spread across specialties, from urology to orthopedics, the robot itself understandably gets most of the attention. Intuitive’s da Vinci system remains the best-known example, but the category now includes an entire generation of platforms purpose-built for specific procedures. What goes mostly unnoticed when talking about robotic surgery and its future? The work behind the scenes for those robots to function safely, like  fluid management..

Fluid automation isn’t driving robotic surgery forward on its own, and calling it the engine behind the trend would overstate things. A more accurate description would be to call it a technology enabler; it solves a problem robotic platforms can’t solve on their own, which is delivering a precise, continuous flow of fluid that keeps the surgical site visible, cool, and clean for the duration of a procedure.

In traditional procedures, that job used to fall to a nurse or surgical technician manually operating a saline syringe who would adjust flow by feel and experience. Once a surgeon is seated at a console feet away from the patient, physically removed from the operative field, that method no longer works. A setup like that calls for a fluid delivery system built to match the robot’s own precision: automated, programmable. and reliable enough to run unattended for an entire case.

Use Case One: Treating an Enlarged Prostate with Robotic Urology

Take the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), for example. This is the prostate enlargement that, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, affects roughly a third of men over 65. 

Robotic-assisted systems built for BPH treatment, including the platform developed by Procept BioRobotics, use image-guided, minimally invasive techniques that depend on continuous, controlled irrigation to maintain visibility and manage tissue throughout the procedure. These systems have gone from niche to broader usage in just a few years, and the fluid delivery technology behind them has had to keep pace, matching the flow precision and sterility that image-guided robotic procedures demand.

Use Case Two: Robotic Orthopedics’ Knee and Hip Replacement

Robotic-assisted joint replacement, one of the fastest-growing categories in orthopedic surgery, is another good example. Platforms such as Stryker’s Mako system help surgeons shape bone with sub-millimeter precision, so implants fit more accurately than they would with traditional instrumentation. That precision has two byproducts: heat and debris. As robotic tooling cuts and shapes bone, irrigation is needed to cool the cutting instrument and wash away bone particulate and blood, keeping the surgical field clear and safe throughout.

The shift toward robotic assistance in joint replacement is growing. A 2025 review in the Journal of Robotic Surgery found that robotic-assisted knee replacement volume increased more than sixfold between 2015 and 2020, with adoption projected to reach roughly 70 percent of all U.S. total knee replacements by 2030. A Medicare analysis of more than 198,000 patients cited in that review found robotic procedures were associated with shorter hospital stays and lower complication rates than conventional surgery, though researchers caution that long-term functional outcomes between the two approaches are still being studied and don’t yet show a clear, lasting advantage.

Fluid Automation’s Supporting Role

Fluid automation still isn’t what’s driving the robotic surgery trend. The robots (and the surgeons using them) remain the story. But as more specialties adopt robotic-assisted techniques, the technologies that support them have to scale right alongside them. Precise, automated irrigation and cooling are quickly becoming a baseline requirement for robotic platforms, the same way any new platform outgrows manual workarounds as it matures.

As robotic surgery expands into new specialties and procedures, the technologies working behind the scenes (fluid management included) will need to keep evolving as well. While it rarely gets mentioned alongside the robot, peristaltic fluid management is often what makes the robot’s part of the story possible.

About Rodd Turnquist

Rodd Turnquist is National Sales Manager, OEM Division at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS), where he works with medical device and diagnostic OEMs to select and integrate fluid-handling components, primarily peristaltic pumps, into next-generation devices. His focus spans applications like cardiac ablation, surgical irrigation, and precision dosing, where pump selection and design directly affect device safety, performance, and time to market.