The Zeus line of surgical robots manufactured by CMI and the da Vinci range manufactured by IS have been used since 1998 in around 300 cardiac operating theaters across the world. The two companies, which were in conflict for many years, finally merged in 2006. A Polish design for a heart surgery robot called Robin Heart is one of few technologies capable of competing with American robotic systems, which have been developed on the basis of experience gathered over many years during work on various NASA and Pentagon projects.

The number of heart procedures performed so far with the use of robots runs into the thousands. The AESOP assistant robot has been used more than 1,000 times in the world, including around 300 times at the Cardiac Surgery Department in Katowice, where it has been used for several years now mainly during the procedure of harvesting the thoracic artery. In 2002, a borrowed Zeus robot was used there to perform elements of a coronary artery bypass surgery.

The first endoscopic positioning system was marketed in 1994 by Computer Motion (Goleta, CA). The AESOP 1000 (Auto Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning) was the world's first mechanical system assisting the surgeon. In January 1998, a French team in Paris performed the world's first endoscopic single coronary bypass procedure; in May, they performed the first surgery inside the heart involving mitral valve repair. That same month, a German team from Leipzig performed a heart surgery with the use of a da Vinci robot manufactured by IS.