New York, September 17, 2026: Hellstern medical today announced its entry into the United States market with noac, the first robotic surgeon assist for open surgery. The system has been proven in two years of daily clinical use in European operating rooms.

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The US launch begins with spine surgery and builds toward the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, October 14 to 17, 2026, in San Antonio, where the company will exhibit at booth 1423.

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Surgeon capacity has become the operating constraint of American hospitals. Surgeons generate up to 70 percent of hospital revenue. Amid a worsening surgeon shortage, a vacancy sits open 100 to 150 days.

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A decade of robot assisted surgery has reached only minimally invasive procedures, about 5 percent of surgical volume. Open surgery, roughly 70 percent of all procedures, has had no robotic support at all, until now.

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noac was built for that space. It is not a surgical robot, which replaces the surgeon's hands at a console. It is not an exoskeleton, which passively holds a posture.

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The sensor controlled system supports the surgeon's own body in real time during open procedures. It carries the full load of the lower body, freeing the surgeon to sit through the case. In locked mode it takes the surgeon's full upper body weight, with the arms fully rested. In floating mode it provides 70 to 80 percent upper body support while following the surgeon's own movement, so precision holds through the last case of the day. In a 2021 study conducted on the system's S3 prototype, published in the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, the support system significantly lowered surgeons' muscle activity and fatigue.

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The surgeon operates with their own hands, at the table, exactly as trained. Setup takes about one minute and training about one hour. The same surgical team delivers more procedures, without new fixed cost.

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“American hospitals have never had a robotic option for the open surgery that makes up most of what they do every day. Until now, robotic options have been limited to the smaller share of procedures that can be performed using a console based system. noac has already been working in European operating rooms every day for two years. Bringing it to the US means giving American surgeons and hospitals access to the same surgical capacity we have already proven, starting with spine.”

Sabrina Hellstern, CEO and Founder, Hellstern medical

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The US entry rests on a proof record built in Europe. noac has supported hundreds of surgeries in daily clinical use. Surgeons can see the system working at the well known University Hospital Tübingen, the company's reference center.

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In 2026, Hellstern medical was selected into NATO DIANA from roughly 4,000 innovations, chosen to help close NATO's identified surgical capability gap. The company demonstrated noac at Vigorous Warrior 2026, NATO's largest military medical exercise, and signed an opt in with Military Hospital Ulm. The military has placed a seven figure order for noac.

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The system is CE marked in Europe. In the United States it is FDA registered and listed as a Class I device, 510(k) exempt. Hellstern medical holds 36 international patents.

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Hospital leaders and spine surgeons who want to meet the team ahead of NASS 2026 can request information at www.hellstern-med.com.

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Media contact

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Sabrina Hellstern, CEO, Hellstern medical

sabrina.hellstern@hellstern-med.com

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About Hellstern medical

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Hellstern medical is a German-American DeepTech company in physical AI and surgical robotics. With noac, the company brings a robotic surgeon assist into the operating room that supports surgical teams in open surgery and scales surgeon capacity. noac is in daily clinical use and represents the first step in a technology roadmap that runs from the robotic assistance system, to the autonomous surgeon, to autonomous surgery. Hellstern medical was built by an interdisciplinary team drawn from medical technology, surgery, and engineering, and is led by founders Sabrina Hellstern, CEO, and Claudia Sodha, COO/CFO.

 

The company has locations in Wannweil, Germany, and New York, USA, and is part of NATO DIANA, selected from roughly 4,000 applications to strengthen surgical capacity in civilian and military settings.

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We scale surgeon capacity.