S. Korea's 'dream team' takes on Japan's 95% grip on global endoscope market with AI robot scope

South Korea's top universities, hospitals and research institutes have joined forces to challenge Japan's dominance of the endoscope market, where Japanese firms control more than 95 percent of global sales.

The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced that a consortium — led by startup Mediintech Co. and including Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University and the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology — has begun work on the "Development of an AI-based next-generation intelligent robot endoscope platform" project under the government's 2026 cross-ministry advanced medical device research and development program. The project will receive roughly 22.8 billion won ($16.5 million) in research funding through 2031.

Japanese companies currently hold more than 95 percent of the global market for flexible electronic endoscopes — the pliable, steerable instruments essential for gastrointestinal screening for stomach and colorectal cancer. The technology has seen little meaningful advancement over the past 50-plus years: conventional endoscopes still rely on a mechanical, manual system in which clinicians physically turn dials by hand. That approach places heavy physical demands on medical staff and produces inconsistent diagnostic outcomes and varying levels of patient discomfort depending on the operator's skill level.

To overcome those limitations, the consortium plans to apply a concept analogous to autonomous driving in automobiles, building on electrification technology already developed by Mediintech. The core innovation is what the team calls "AI autonomous steering" — an AI system that identifies the optimal path through the narrow, curved passages of the gastrointestinal tract and guides the endoscope smoothly along it. Once commercialized, the technology is expected to significantly shorten procedure times, minimize patient discomfort and substantially reduce the variation in diagnostic quality that stems from differences in clinician experience.

Clinicians will be involved directly from the earliest stages of research and development to maximize the technology's practical usability and acceptance in real clinical settings.

The project's scope extends beyond diagnosis to high-complexity therapeutic procedures. In addition to standard upper and lower gastrointestinal diagnostic endoscopes, the consortium plans to expand into specialized diagnostic and treatment devices such as duodenoscopes and miniature choledochoscopes. The team also intends to integrate ultra-compact multi-joint surgical instruments capable of multi-degree-of-freedom movement inside narrow organs, enabling near-automated, high-precision robotic treatment — grasping, pulling, cutting and suturing lesions with fine accuracy.

Mediintech will lead overall development of the intelligent motorized robot endoscope platform, while Seoul National University Hospital will handle clinical validation through multi-center trials. Seoul National University will develop AI algorithms for diagnostic and surgical assistance; KERI will contribute core optical and image-processing technology for spectral imaging; and DGIST will develop component technologies for the robot endoscope, with each partner's expertise designed to maximize synergy across the consortium.

Bae Young-min, head of KERI's Electro-Medical Device Research Division, said the institute would draw on decades of accumulated expertise in medical imaging and flexible electronic endoscope source technology, combined with the consortium's cross-sector capabilities, to help build an innovative domestically developed robot endoscope platform that surpasses the current global monopoly. "The research results will not stay in the laboratory — this will become a model case in which findings translate into real commercialization through a spinoff company," he added.