The CE approval opens Europe for Cornerstone Robotics as the company expands its global surgical robotics business
Updated
May 29, 2026 4:20 AM
A tray of surgical tools. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
As surgical robotics companies expand beyond domestic markets, regulatory approvals are becoming a critical part of global growth. Companies are no longer competing only on hardware and clinical performance. They are also competing on their ability to enter tightly regulated healthcare systems and build long-term hospital partnerships.
Hong Kong-based Cornerstone Robotics is now moving further into that phase of expansion after its Sentire Endoscopic Surgical System received CE Mark certification under the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation framework.
The approval allows the company to commercialize the system across European markets for minimally invasive procedures in general surgery, gynecology, thoracic surgery and urology. For surgical robotics companies, regulatory approvals often represent more than product validation. They also determine market access, hospital adoption opportunities and long-term commercial scale.
Cornerstone Robotics has already been building clinical operations in the UK ahead of the approval. Since 2025, the company has worked with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust on clinical investigations involving the Sentire Surgical System. According to the company, the system has been used across procedures involving urology, gynecology and gastrointestinal surgery. The company says the clinical investigation helped generate real-world data to support physician training, research and future adoption efforts.
Alongside the regulatory approval, Cornerstone Robotics is also expanding its local operations in Europe. The company established a UK subsidiary in 2025 and has been developing training, clinical support and after-sales service capabilities for hospitals using the system.
That operational buildout reflects a larger challenge inside surgical robotics. Hospitals adopting robotic systems often require ongoing clinical training, technical support and workflow integration alongside the hardware itself.
Cornerstone Robotics says its strategy centers around vertically integrated development across engineering, software, imaging and robotics systems. The company argues that this structure gives it greater control over product development, supply chain management and long-term operational stability.
Professor Samuel Au, Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Robotics, said: "Receiving CE Certification marks a major milestone in Cornerstone Robotics' evolution from a technology innovator to a global clinical solutions provider. From our first clinical investigation in Portsmouth, UK, to achieving European regulatory approval, each step of the journey reflects our commitment to proprietary innovation, product excellence, and clinical value. Looking ahead, we will continue expanding into key global markets and partnering with leading medical institutions to bring high-quality surgical robotic solutions to more physicians and patients worldwide."
The CE approval also comes several months after the company completed an oversubscribed financing round of approximately US$200 million in November 2025.
The funding and regulatory expansion together signal how surgical robotics companies are increasingly entering a more commercially focused stage of growth. Beyond research and development, companies are now investing more heavily in regulatory approvals, hospital partnerships, physician training and international operational infrastructure as competition expands across global healthcare markets.
Keep Reading
From information gaps to global access — how AI is reshaping the pursuit of knowledge.
Updated
January 8, 2026 6:33 PM
.jpg)
Paper cut-outs of robots sitting on a pile of books. PHOTO: FREEPIK
Encyclopaedias have always been mirrors of their time — from heavy leather-bound volumes in the 19th century to Wikipedia’s community-edited pages online. But as the world’s information multiplies faster than humans can catalogue it, even open platforms struggle to keep pace. Enter Botipedia, a new project from INSEAD, The Business School for the World, that reimagines how knowledge can be created, verified and shared using artificial intelligence.
At its core, Botipedia is powered by proprietary AI that automates the process of writing encyclopaedia entries. Instead of relying on volunteers or editors, it uses a system called Dynamic Multi-method Generation (DMG) — a method that combines hundreds of algorithms and curated datasets to produce high-quality, verifiable content. This AI doesn’t just summarise what already exists; it synthesises information from archives, satellite feeds and data libraries to generate original text grounded in facts.
What makes this innovation significant is the gap it fills in global access to knowledge. While Wikipedia hosts roughly 64 million English-language entries, languages like Swahili have fewer than 40,000 articles — leaving most of the world’s population outside the circle of easily available online information. Botipedia aims to close that gap by generating over 400 billion entries across 100 languages, ensuring that no subject, event or region is overlooked.
"We are creating Botipedia to provide everyone with equal access to information, with no language left behind", says Phil Parker, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Management Science, creator of Botipedia and holder of one of the pioneering patents in the field of generative AI. "We focus on content grounded in data and sources with full provenance, allowing the user to see as many perspectives as possible, as opposed to one potentially biased source".
Unlike many generative AI tools that depend on large language models (LLMs), Botipedia adapts its methods based on the type of content. For instance, weather data is generated using geo-spatial techniques to cover every possible coordinate on Earth. This targeted, multi-method approach helps boost both the accuracy and reliability of what it produces — key challenges in today’s AI-driven content landscape.
Additionally, the innovation is also energy-efficient. Its DMG system operates at a fraction of the processing power required by GPU-heavy models like ChatGPT, making it a sustainable alternative for large-scale content generation.
By combining AI precision, linguistic inclusivity and academic credibility, Botipedia positions itself as more than a digital library — it’s a step toward universal, unbiased access to verified knowledge.
"Botipedia is one of many initiatives of the Human and Machine Intelligence Institute (HUMII) that we are establishing at INSEAD", says Lily Fang, Dean of Research and Innovation at INSEAD. "It is a practical application that builds on INSEAD-linked IP to help people make better decisions with knowledge powered by technology. We want technologies that enhance the quality and meaning of our work and life, to retain human agency and value in the age of intelligence".
By harnessing AI to bridge gaps of language, geography and credibility, Botipedia points to a future where access to knowledge is no longer a privilege, but a shared global resource.