Hot on the heels of Brainlab selling its orthopedic joint reconstruction business to Smith and Nephew, the Munich-based firm is now making an acquisition of its own. The company said it is acquiring robotics platform specialist Medineering.

Brainlab had been an investor and distribution partner for Medineering for nearly three years.

This strategic move increases the depth of the Brainlab portfolio in cranial surgery and strengthens its offering in spinal surgery, contributing a powerful digital step in clinical workflows. Brainlab currently markets the Medineering arm under the name Cirq Inspired by the form of the human arm.  The device is an assistant during surgical procedures.

The acquisition adds another platform to the open hardware architecture of the Brainlab digital ecosystem for surgery, enabling other medical technology companies to design their own solutions and applications across many subspecialties. Unlike other closed monolithic industry offerings, this acquisition is expected to offer an open platform for a broad range of clinical opportunities.

“Medineering introduced a fresh new approach to surgical robotics when we entered into our partnership less than three years ago,” Stefan Vilsmeier, president and CEO, Brainlab, said in a release. Today, we are shifting gears and accelerating development with additional resources to address a broader clinical market.”

Brainlab isn’t the only company that’s recently entering into the robotics market. Earlier this month, Corin Group announced it would be entering the robotic orthopedics space through its acquisition of Omni Therapeutics.