From landmark cases to new partnerships, here are six key updates in spine and orthopedic robotics to know from the first quarter of 2022:

Spine surgery is well-positioned to benefit from robotics, which, when paired with next-generation navigation technologies, has the potential to augment the skills of spine surgeons to improve patient safety and outcomes and reduce complications and costs.

Mercy Health's St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, added the Mazor X Stealth robot, the hospital said in a March 21 news release. 

SpineGuard's first patent application for its dynamic surgical guidance technology was allowed by the U.S. patent and trademark office.

Mitchell Garden, MD, of Torrington, Conn.-based Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, marked 100 spine surgeries with the ExcelsiusGPS robot.

Ronald Hillock, MD, performed the first total knee replacement with a second-generation robot at Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas.

An orthopedic surgeon at Meeker-based Colorado Advanced Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Spine at Pioneers Medical Center has reported positive outcomes using a joint replacement robot.

Medical devicemaker Medtronic named Mike Marinaro its operating unit president for surgical robotics, the company said March 17.

DOCS Health, a 21-physician group in Beverly Hills, Calif., is one of the few practices in the world to offer spine surgery with two robots: Medtronic's Mazor X and Globus Medical's ExcelsiusGPS.

Thirty years from now, every operating room could have a robot for spine surgeries or joint replacements. Robotics has been the buzz word in spine surgery for years, but most surgeons agree the technology is incomplete. That said, what's next for robotics and how far can it go in spine surgery?

Accelus' LineSider spine system was used with the devicemaker's Remi robotic system for the first time in December.

Akron, Ohio-based Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center is one of the first hospitals in the region with the Mazor X Stealth robotic surgical system.

Kornelis Poelstra, MD, PhD, has completed 1,111 robotic-assisted spine surgeries and says enabling technologies such as robotics and augmented reality are "just beginning to scratch the surface" in spine surgery.

Here are five hospitals and health systems that added spine and orthopedic surgical robots in February:

Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network added Medtronic's Mazor X robotic system for minimally invasive spine surgery.

Miami Valley South Hospital in Centerville, Ohio, has begun offering robotic-assisted surgery using the Stryker Mako robot.

Kingsley Abode-Iyamah, MD, performed one of the first robotic-assisted awake spinal fusions in Florida in February, the surgeon announced in a Feb. 25 LinkedIn post.

Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear, Ariz., has performed more than 100 complex spinal fusions with the ExcelsiusGPS robot, which it installed one year ago, AZ Big Media reported Feb. 22.

Ernest Braxton, MD, performed the first awake robot-assisted transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion in Colorado, according to a Feb. 20 LinkedIn post.

Smith+Nephew launched its Cori surgical robot for knee replacements in Japan, the devicemaker said Feb. 21.