Nice post Surgitech. I would add where is ISRG's single port robot that was FDA approved nearly 2 years ago? Where are the competitive snake like robots? Medrobotics and who? Anyone make a hyperdextrous flexible robot or have intellectual property along those lines?
ST...you can make something without patents...no doubt, but that would be the dumbest thing any one could and would ever do. You essentially would be giving every company a free robot design. Patents are everything in this game.