As the global robotics sector sees surging investment, a former star has collapsed spectacularly. Recently, investors in U.S. surgical robotics company Vicarious Surgical voted to cease operations and proceed with bankruptcy liquidation. The company, once hailed as a challenger to the da Vinci surgical system, raised approximately $300 million cumulatively and attracted investment from Bill Gates, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, and other prominent figures—only to burn through its last reserves as its product repeatedly failed to reach commercialization.
Vicarious Surgical’s story began with a science fiction film. Inspired by the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage, in which five doctors are shrunk and injected into a patient’s body to perform…