Gary Guthart

Gary Guthart, for one, welcomes our new robot overlords. Well, at least when it comes to minimally invasive surgery. Intuitive Surgical’s stock has soared 221% over three years as it has come to dominate the robot-assisted surgery space, where its flagship da Vinci devices are ubiquitous. With four robotic arms that wield various instruments and a high-resolution 3D camera, the da Vinci machines enable surgeons to operate on patients through small surgical holes, nixing the need for cutting someone open. More than 4 million procedures had been conducted with da Vinci systems through 2017. And Guthart isn’t just a businessman; he helped develop the technology that drives computer-enhanced surgery during his time at SRI International.